Kam Williams and Marc Loving are two different players with two different skillsets, but they can each do one particular thing very well: shoot the basketball.
No one on Ohio State's team — or in the country, really — has been better at shooting the ball from behind the 3-point line this year than Loving. The 6-foot-8 sophomore forward from Toledo leads the Big Ten and is second nationally in 3-point shooting at 53.2 percent. He has made 42 of his 79 tries from downtown this season.
But the 20th-ranked Buckeyes are now without Loving's services for an indefinite number of games as head coach Thad Matta announced before Wednesday's game at Purdue that Loving "has temporarily lost his privilege to wear the scarlet and gray."
What Loving did to "lose his privilege" remains unknown. Matta told Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch it was for an off-the-court issue and that "Marc has to earn the privilege to be back out here."
Right now, the length of Loving's absence is unknown. He could be back on the court early next week for Ohio State or he could be out for a lengthy period of time.
If he's out for any significant length of time, the Buckeyes will need to fill the void of their second-leading scorer. In Wednesday's 60-58 loss to the Boilermakers, they failed to do that.
Loving brings a unique attribute to the table with the fact he's such a deadly shooter from long range. He can space the floor and allow D'Angelo Russell and Shannon Scott to penetrate off the dribble. Teams cannot leave him and help on the drive because he's so accurate from distance.
When Ohio State doesn't have that threat, it becomes significantly less dangerous. And that's where Williams can come into play.
A redshirt freshman from Baltimore, Williams has shown flashes of being able to get hot from the perimeter this season. He's scored at least 15 points in five different games this season. However, all of those came in the Buckeyes' non-conference schedule against much weaker opponents.
Still, the ability to shoot the ball is there. He's a 39 percent shooter from deep on the year and his third on the team in made 3-pointers behind Russell and Loving.
"He really hunts buckets, that's just what he does," senior forward Sam Thompson said of Williams back in November.
The Buckeyes may need more of that going forward.
Williams and Loving play different positions. Williams is a guard and Loving is a forward who has even spent some time playing the center position this season when Ohio State chooses to go to its small lineup.
But the one thing they both do really well is shoot the ball. They have an ability to spread the floor and make things easier for the Buckeyes on the offensive end. Without Loving, it will be up to Williams to carry more of a load from the outside as a sharpshooter.
"I tell these guys, I tell Kam Williams, I can’t have more confidence in you shooting the ball than you have in yourself," Matta said following Ohio State's win over Maryland last week.
Now, it's up to Williams to go out there and let it fly.
