Ohio State basketball: Jimmy Sotos ends season with surgery

The Ohio State basketball team lost their backup point guard a few weeks ago to a shoulder injury. Now, he is having season-ending surgery on that shoulder.

Jimmy Sotos was supposed to give the Ohio State basketball team some depth in the backcourt after transferring in from Bucknell. While he didn’t play a lot of minutes, he was someone with experience who would take care of the ball and not turn it over.

Unfortunately, his season is over. Sotos hurt his shoulder against Rutgers a few weeks back and is now having season-ending surgery on that shoulder. As a graduate transfer, his college career could be over, but it sounds like he will use the extra year given by the NCAA because of COVID.

With Sotos officially out, that means Meechie Johnson is probably going to get more minutes as the backup point guard. Johnson is still extremely young and is supposed to still be a senior in high school. He hasn’t seen a ton of time yet. Now he might see increased playing time.

The Buckeyes have actually played pretty well in Sotos’ absence. Ohio State is actually 6-1 in the games since Sotos has gotten hurt, including that game against Rutgers. The lack of backcourt depth hasn’t hurt them, especially with the return of C.J. Walker.

This certainly hurts the Buckeyes in the long-run, but it won’t be something that hampers them too much. As I mentioned, they have found a way to play well without his services already. As long as Johnson can step up before tournament time, Ohio State should be fine.

It’s a shame that Sotos’ season is over so early in the year. Hopefully, his surgery is a success and he can return stronger next year to really help this Ohio State basketball squad.