Ohio State basketball players provide updates on media day
Tuesday's media day marked the unofficial start to the 2021-22 Ohio State men's basketball season.
Inside the men's practice gym at Value City Arena, all 15 members of this year's team assembled for a team photo. Then, they broke for interviews.
Coach Chris Holtmann, initially slated to take part in the day, was absent to attend the funeral for Paul Patterson, his coach at Taylor University and a significant influence on his life.
Here are three things we learned Tuesday.
1. Kyle Young is ready for a full season
After dealing with lower-leg injuries during his sophomore and junior seasons as well as a pair of concussions during the final weeks of last season, Kyle Young had to downplay any concerns about his availability for this year.
“I feel great,” Young said. “This offseason I've really worked on body maintenance, working on things I need to be working on. The end of last year was tough with those two concussions, but other than that, throughout the year my legs were doing great. I'm hoping to continue that and keep my body healthy.”
The plan this season will look similar to last year, Young said, as the training staff and coaches will do what they can to limit his workload and keep him healthy. As he noted, it worked last season until he suffered a concussion in late February and another during the Big Ten tournament.
2. Seth Towns is on track for a December return
After missing his final two seasons at Harvard due to knee injuries, Columbus native Seth Towns transferred to Ohio State following the 2019-20
season and vowed that Buckeyes fans would see how much it means for him to play for his hometown school.
He was only able to do that in stretches last year, and now the upcoming campaign will likewise be delayed. Towns underwent back surgery this offseason. He is expected to return to game action roughly in the middle of December.
“It's tough,” Towns said. “I could write a book about this (stuff ), honestly. You've got to take it day by day. You can't get too down because hope is still alive, hope is still there. Honestly, the chances are really good for me to have a good year.”
3. The Oral Roberts loss is fading into the past
There's no getting around the fact
that Ohio State's first-round loss as a No. 2 seed was one of the 10 biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
Of the 15 players on the roster, though, only six actually played in that game. Holtmann has talked with those who were there about owning what happened, learning from it and moving on.
That seems to be what's happened, although Meechie Johnson, who did not appear in the game, said it still drives him.
“I feel it every day,” he said. “Every day in workouts I think about it. I never want to go through that again. I think about it, and I learned a lot from it, not just from the loss but from being in the locker room. Guys crying after that game, it hurt. We use it as motivation." ajardy@dispatch.com @Adamjardy