Ohio State Guard Malaki Branham Named Big Ten Freshman Of The Week

Branham scored a career-high 35 points in the Buckeyes' 87-79 overtime win at Nebraska.

Ohio State guard Malaki Branham was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday after scoring a career-high 35 points in the Buckeyes’ 87-79 overtime win at Nebraska on Sunday evening.

⭐️ @MalakiBranham has been named @BigTen Freshman of the Week after scoring a career high 35 points on 68.4% shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and 2 assists in a win over Nebraska.#Team123 | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/OX4TpcQLUo

— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) January 3, 2022

The former four-star prospect from Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary was 13-of-19 from the floor, including 6-of-10 from three-point range. He also tied a career high with six rebounds and two assists in 42 minutes.

Branham’s 35 points are the most by an Ohio State freshman since since former forward Jared Sullinger scored 40 points in a win over IUPUI in 2010.

It’s also the most of any Buckeye freshman in a conference game, topping the 33 points scored by former guard D’Angelo Russell in a win at Northwestern in 2015, and ties former forward Keita Bates-Diop (Illinois, 2018) for the most of any Ohio State player in Big Ten play since 2000.

Prior to Sunday, Branham’s previous career high was 11 points. He is the first Buckeye to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors since former guard D.J. Carton in 2019, when he scored a team-high 15 points in a six-point win over Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic.

Ohio State returns to action this Thursday at Indiana. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET on FS1.

-----

Be sure to check out our new message boards, Buckeye Forums. We'd love to have you part of the conversation during the season.

-----

You may also like:

Ohio State Remains At No. 13 In Latest AP Top 25 Men’s Basketball Poll

Key Takeaways From Ohio State's 87-79 Overtime Win At Nebraska

Ohio State’s Malaki Branham Scores Career-High 21 Points In First Half At Nebraska

Forward Kyle Young Unavailable Against Nebraska Due To Non-COVID Illness

Ohio State's Dec. 28 Game Against New Orleans Cancelled Due To COVID-19

Former Ohio State F Keita Bates-Diop’s Career Night Leads Spurs Past Lakers

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AndrewMLind
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNowSI
Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook!