Purdue beat Ohio State, 76-75, on Thursday night. It was as "must-win" for Thad Matta's men as an early January conference game can get.
Yet the loss got worse shortly thereafter when Thad Matta announced junior forward Keita Bates-Diop would miss the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his left leg. It was the same injury which sidelined Bates-Diop for part of this summer, but not the same one that forced him to miss five games during the season. That was a high ankle sprain suffered against Providence.
“Keita is done for the season. He’s going to have surgery next week and that’s definitely a punch in the gut to us," Matta said afterward. "It is what it is. We’ve got to keep moving forward."
"I feel awful for Keita and I’m thankful for what he gave us just in terms of playing with a lot of pain. As I told him, I don’t need that in my career now. I’m not going to play a guy who is injured. And he’s done."
Bates-Diop was averaging 9.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game for the Buckeyes. Matta said the plan is for the junior forward to take a medical redshirt. He's eligible for one because his injury occurred prior to the deadline.
Ohio State is next in action Sunday, Jan. 8th, at 7:30 p.m. ET in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
