Ohio State Basketball: Justice Sueing expected to miss extended time

The Ohio State basketball team got bad news on the injury front today. Justice Sueing, who was expected to be one of the Buckeyes’ best players this season, will miss extended time with an abdominal injury.

Ohio State released a report on Sueing’s injury that identified it as an abdominal injury. Which contrasts the previous report that designated the injury as a “lower-body injury”. When it was identified as lower-body, it seemed Sueing was dealing with the same groin injury that held him back in last year’s postseason. Now that is not the case, it is a different nagging muscle injury.

Sueing was going to be Ohio State basketball’s second-best contributor this season behind E.J. Liddell. He even received preseason accolades as he was listed on the preseason watchlist for the 2022 Julius Erving Award, given to the top small forward in college basketball.

At times, Sueing flashed greatness last season averaging 10.7 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting an efficient 49.1% and 36.1% from three. The California transfer has displayed his talent of being a three-level scorer capable of taking over games on the offensive end.

Now, Sueing will miss a large chunk of the season. At this point, it seems the senior forward could be out until February or even March. This is an even bigger blow with the Buckeyes’ extremely difficult non-conference schedule that extends till early January.

Once conference play begins, the Big Ten will be one of college basketball’s best conferences, yet again. No Sueing could end up being a game-changer for OSU’s season goals.

Yes, Sueing did not look good in his two games of action this season. However, he was clearly not healthy—proven by his limited 15.5 minutes per game compared to his 28+ minutes per game last season.

It was already evident after Ohio State’s close win over Akron, but the freshman Malaki Branham’s role is only increasing. Branham has the closest repertoire to Sueing’s skillset, he could be a determining factor in replacing Sueing for the time being. Other Buckeyes like Justin Ahrens and Eugene Brown will need to play better as well.

Ohio State basketball will play their first major non-conference game without Sueing against Xavier tonight at 6:30 PM EST.