With Jae'Sean Tate held to just 21 minutes due to foul trouble and Ohio State in a shootout with South Dakota State in a Round of 64 matchup in Boise, Idaho, Chris Holtmann found himself in need of some supplemental scorers to Keita Bates-Diop.
Kam Williams answered the call in spades with 22 points – 15 of which came in the second half – and while Williams' effort shined the brightest in an 81-73 victory, C.J. Jackson's own stellar performance should not be overlooked.
Coming off a five-point clunker on 1-of-6 shooting (albeit with six assists) in Ohio State's Big Ten Tournament loss to Penn State, Jackson was superb in support of Bates-Diop and Williams with 20 points, a career-high nine rebounds, and five assists in 35 minutes of action.
The 20 points served as the second-most of Jackson's Buckeye career trailing only a 23-point showing way back in November during a 79-71 win over Stanford.
Jackson shot a pedestrian 42% from the field (8-of-19) but effectively stretched the Jackrabbit defense as he splashed 4-of-9 three-point field goals (44%). The four triples tied a season-high most recently accomplished 18 games ago back on December 30th against the Miami Redhawks.
The junior did commit three turnovers against those five assists but he was largely in control in an uptempo game and was clearly a positive contributor to Ohio State's lopsided 18-2 edge in fastbreak points.
| SEASON | OPPONENT | POINTS | FG / FGA | 3FG / 3FGA | REB | ASST | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | STANFORD | 23 | 7/14 | 4/6 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 2017-18 | SOUTH DAKOTA STATE | 20 | 8/19 | 4/9 | 9 | 5 | 3 |
With Ohio State's first NCAA Tournament win since 2015 in the books, the Buckeyes must now turn the page in prep for a rematch with Gonzaga.
The Bulldogs made quick work of the Buckeyes in November, routing Holtmann's squad, 86-59, in a game that saw Jackson log 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting with three assists against three turnovers.
Whether or not Jackson can parlay tonight's performance into another strong outing on Saturday remains to be seen but there's little doubt both Jackson and Williams will need to turn in steady outings in support of Bates-Diop, along with Tate bouncing back, for Ohio State to have a legit shot at exacting revenge on Mark Few's team.
