Ohio State basketball transfers haven’t stepped up
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State basketball team has a lot of transfers on the roster who haven’t stepped up nearly enough this season.
Modern college basketball sees a lot of guys transferring in and out of programs. The Ohio State basketball program is no exception. They have several guys who started their careers elsewhere. In fact, that’s what most of their roster is made up of right now.
Jamari Wheeler, Joey Brunk, Cedric Russell, Seth Towns, Justice Sueing, and Jimmy Sotos are all transfers into this program. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they haven’t stepped up this season much as they needed to to make this team a true contender in March.
Wheeler is the starting point guard and was supposed to be a defensive stopper. Wheeler has averaged a career-high 7.4 points per game this season and has shot about 40% from three. The offense hasn’t been the issue. The fouling early in games has though.
Brunk has stepped up in the last three games out of necessity with Zed Key and Kyle Young out. But he still only averages 2.5 points per game. Cedric Russell averaged 17 points per game a season ago. With the Buckeyes, he only scores 4.5 per game.
Towns hasn’t played all season and hasn’t really been much of a factor since he joined the Ohio State basketball program last season. Sotos only played 8 minutes a game and scores less than 2 points per game and is another guard that can’t defend.
Next. How OSU can try to fix their defense. dark
Simply put, the transfers haven’t done their jobs this season. Whether it’s the combination of players that Chris Holtmann trots out there or deficiencies in each of these guys’ games, something hasn’t gone right with the transfers and it’s a big reason why they look like they’re going to lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.