Ohio State basketball: Buckeyes miss Meechie Johnson

The Ohio State football team has had to deal with a ton of injuries, COVID pauses, and various issues. No one is crying for them though. Every team has issues to deal with of their own. Perhaps no bigger issue for the Buckeyes is the loss of Meechie Johnson.

Johnson suffered a facial fracture and a concussion a few weeks ago during practice. Since he’s been out, the Buckeyes have missed his outside shooting and his ability to create his own shot off the dribble. The Buckeyes have largely struggled since he’s been out.

Without Johnson, the Buckeyes fell to Wisconsin and struggled with Penn State. The Wisconsin loss isn’t a bad one, but they could have been closer to a win had he been available. The Buckeyes wouldn’t have struggled to just score 61 points against Penn State if he’d been out there.

Even if he isn’t hitting his threes, Johnson is still a valuable player to have out on the court. The mere threat of him taking and making a deep three stretches out the defense. It makes it harder for them to defend players like E.J. Liddell and Zed Key in the post.

It’s unclear when Johnson will be back with the team. He still hasn’t been cleared for contact yet, so he almost certainly won’t play against Minnesota on Thursday. It might be a stretch for him to play on Sunday against Purdue as well. We’ll just have to wait and see what his status is.

It’s never good when a team loses a 40% shooter from three-point territory. That’s what Johnson is. Hopefully, the Ohio State basketball team can get him back sooner rather than later. They’re going to need him to compete for a Big Ten title later this year.