BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Former Ohio State player E.J. Liddell was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the 41st pick in the second round of the NBA Draft on Thursday.
After three years as a Buckeye, Liddell decided to forego his senior year at Ohio State to put his name into the draft.
This past season, Liddell averaged 19.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.5 assists per game.
Over the last 30 years, he is just the third player to average those numbers over a full season, joining Jason Thompson of Rider and Tim Duncan of Wake Forest.
He scored in double figures in every game this year and had 13 games of 20 or more points.
Liddell became the 33rd Buckeye in program history with 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds. He finished with 1,298 career points which is 32nd on the program’s all-time scoring list.
He is also seventh in school history with 143 career blocks.
During his sophomore season, Liddell averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting 47 percent from the floor.
As a freshman in 2019-20, he came off the bench in all 31 games and averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per contest.
