Why Zed Key is so important for this Ohio State basketball team

The Ohio State basketball team has gotten sparks from several different guys at different times this year. Other than EJ Liddell, one guy in particular has played pretty consistently and that guy is Zed Key.

With the Buckeyes’ 3rd game in a row being canceled due to COVID, this puts them right into Big Ten play. The Big Ten is loaded with monster bigs like Kofi Cockburn of Illinois, Hunter Dickinson of Michigan, Trevion Williams, and Zach Edey of Purdue. This makes Zed’s role on the floor extremely important since he will bring on a heavy workload having to battle on the inside night in and night out against these stud bigs.

Zed is having a very impressive start to his sophomore season at Ohio State. He is the 2nd leading scorer on the team at 10.4 PPG, which is a five-point increase from his freshman year. He’s averaging 5.4 RPG and is scoring at a 61.6% FG rate. Also, Zed is seeing more time on the floor this year as his minutes have increased by 11 minutes and he is in the starting rotation.

Zed has also had some tremendous games this year. His best was against the Duke Blue Devils, who at the time were ranked 1st in the AP rankings, and he led with 20 points on 53.3% FG shooting. Another was against Wisconsin in each he had 11 points, 9 rebounds, and shot 71.4% from the field.

I think his play so far has shocked a lot of people for how undersized he is as a true big and only standing at 6’8″. His left hook over the right shoulder in the paint has been the most lethal part of his offensive repertoire. The left hook shot is a giant killer down low.

For how well Zed has been able to play in the early part of the year, it has allowed this Ohio State basketball team to establish a solid inside presence moving forward. Solid inside play was a much-needed asset to this team coming into the 2021-22 season. If Zed continues to play this way he will help keep the Buckeyes towards the top of the Big Ten.

It will be interesting to see what Zed Key and the Buckeyes do when they are finally able to return to the court and are right into Big Ten play. If Ohio State wants to have a chance at winning the Big Ten, it all starts with Zed and how much he can battle with the highly-rated bigs of the Big Ten.

Zed has proven with his consistent play that he will continue to bring his energy every night and battle with those elite bigs.