There's a chance Ohio State could again be without its second-leading scorer Sunday when the Buckeyes host Florida in the second round of the NIT. Sophomore forward Keita Bates-Diop remains questionable due to an illness, coach Thad Matta said Friday.
"We still don’t know if he’ll be able to go on Sunday," Matta said. "Hasn’t done a whole lot with us so who knows?"
After starting the first 33 games of the season, Bates-Diop missed Ohio State's opening-round NIT game against Akron dealing with some sort of sore throat illness, Matta said, potentially strep throat.
The Normal, Illinois native is averaging 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game this season for the Buckeyes, who are the No. 3 seed in their quadrant of the NIT. Redshirt sophomore guard Kam Williams started in place of Bates-Diop in Tuesday's overtime win against the Zips and scored 18 points.
Williams, Marc Loving and JaQuan Lyle all logged at least 44 minutes in that victory over Akron as Ohio State played just seven players.
“There were times in the first half where we were as dishevelled trying to get guys, what play they knew, what actions they knew," Matta said. "We made a couple major adjustments at halftime and really tried to simplify things for them and I thought that worked very well for us.”
Ohio State hosts Florida at Value City Arena at noon Sunday.
