Before he started talking about Ohio State's 68-59 win over Indiana on Saturday, Chris Holtmann opened up his postgame press conference at the Schottenstein Center by addressing D.J. Carton's leave of absence from the team.
Holtmann started his opening statement by thanking the "vast majority" of Ohio State fans for their support of Carton, who has stepped away from the Buckeyes to address his mental health, then explained that there is "nothing more important in our program than our players' physical, mental health and overall growth" in response to the "rare few" who were critical of Carton's decision to step away from the team.
The Buckeyes' coach went on to talk more about Carton, though he said he could not comment on a timetable for when Carton might return, and his thoughts on the team's performance in their nine-point win over the Hoosiers. Ohio State center Kaleb Wesson and point guard CJ Walker also discussed the Buckeyes' performance against the Hoosiers and how they moved forward after Carton informed the team on Thursday that he would be stepping away temporarily.
You can hear what all three of them had to say in the videos above.
