COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Andre Wesson has had an interesting journey to his senior year at Ohio State.
He earned a late offer from the Buckeyes in 2016 as a three-star recruit after he and his brother and fellow Buckeye Kaleb Wesson led Westerville South (Ohio) High School to its first state championship. He committed to Thad Matta, who was fired following his freshman year. As a sophomore under Chris Holtmann, he was a role player off of the bench, averaging 2.9 points in 18.5 minutes per game.
As a junior, he became one of the Buckeyes’ most versatile players on both ends of the floor while averaging 8.6 points, starting all but one game. Now he’ll enter his final college season as the only member of Ohio State’s three-man 2016 recruiting class still on the roster.
“I haven’t stopped and thought about it,” Wesson said “It is kind of crazy thinking about it. It’s gone fast. I’ve enjoyed my three years so far here and I’m looking forward to the fourth.”
Derek Funderburk left after one year and Micah Potter elected to transfer to Wisconsin prior to the start of the 2018-19 season.
As the lone senior Wesson takes over as the de facto leader of a team expected to sit somewhere in the top half of the Big Ten. But unlike past leaders like Jae’Sean Tate, who at times could be a loud leader, Wesson prefers a quiet manner.
“J.T. was a great leader, but me and him our personalities are nothing alike,” Wesson said. “I’m just trying to have my own style of leadership and show guys how to work hard. If I do need to say something, I can step up and say something."
Wesson leaves the “rah-rah” aspects of leadership to Kaleb Wesson and C.J Walker. The younger Wesson is the team’s best player and leading scorer while Walker has the most tournament experience of the group. Prior to transferring to Ohio State, he played two seasons at Florida State as the Seminoles reached the Elite Eight in 2018.
Individually the junior forward will look to improve his ball handling and consistency from three-point range, which due to a recent rule change that pushed the arc out nearly 17 inches. But that shouldn’t affect most elite shooters, who seldom take their shots at the arc itself. He acknowledges that while the new arc at 22 feet, 1.75 inches could help provide space for low-post players, that will depend on the Buckeyes’ accuracy.
“Floor spacing will be a big thing, but for it to be a big thing you have to hit shots,” Wesson said. “It can definitely space the floor, but it can also shrink the floor on (Kaleb Wesson) real quick if we’re not hitting shots.”
Wesson feels the rule change that will require the most adjustment is the new shot clock. The clock will still be 30 seconds, but on offensive rebounds, it will reset to 20 seconds. This rule carries the spirit of the NBA, where on offensive rebounds teams have just 14 seconds for a new shot.
“Just (adjusting to) playing a lot faster and the game moving a lot faster,” Wesson said.
Ohio State will play 20 conference games to go along with one of the toughest non-conference schedules. That could be to their benefit when February and March roll around. For Wesson the schedule and expectations are great, but there is only one thing he wants to accomplish.
“I don’t have a ring," Wesson said. "That’s something I really want, a ring, whether it’s Big Ten regular season or the tournament championship. That has been in the back of my mind.”
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