Ohio State forward Kyle Young will not be available when the team travels to Michigan State on Thursday because of a concussion he suffered against Michigan on Thursday according to comments from head coach Chris Holtmann. Holtmann met with the media Wednesday to preview the matchup against a resurgent Spartan team that’s playing for its postseason life right now and broke the news.
The OSU head coach made no bones about how devastating the loss is against a Michigan State team that is physical and crashes the boards hard. For him, the loss of Young hurts at any point because of what he brings to the team.
“It’s significant. There’s no minimizing it’s a significant hit to our depth and our team,” Holtmann said while on a Zoom call. “It happened late in the game. I’m disappointed for him just because you’d like for him to be able to be in every game here late in his career, and certainly one that’s against as quality of team that we’re playing. I know he’s disappointed, but I think he’s doing well. He’s progressing very well. He’s progressing very well in the updates that I’ve gotten.”
With no Young, the lion’s share of the work in the paint will now fall on the shoulders of E.J. Liddell and Zed Key. Musa Jallow could be available as well, though he too is still dealing with an ankle sprain. Holtmann also said that Seth Towns will likely be called upon to play more minutes. But still, it’s a huge hole to fill.
“We don’t have a guy on our roster that plays quite like Kyle and kind of brings his multi-dimension energy and rebounding and physicality. Obviously, it’s a concern. That’s what we’ve looked at the last couple days. Obviously, Seth will be important. Zed, as you mentioned. And then depending if Musa is available, he’ll be important as well.”
Video: Ohio State's Chris Holtmann talks Kyle Young's injury, Michigan State game https://t.co/u3a5ZoQx93
— Columbus Dispatch (@DispatchAlerts) February 24, 2021
If Ohio State is to keep its standing as a No. 1 seed and still stay in the driver’s seat for a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, a win against Michigan State is huge. Unfortunately, it’s looking like it’ll be a bigger uphill battle than originally thought.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.
Download the USA TODAY SportsWire app to follow Buckeyes Wire and your other favorite teams in the Apple Store for iPhones and Google Play for Android devices.