Jimmy Sotos won't play again until next season.
The senior Ohio State guard will have surgery due to a separated shoulder, an injury he initially suffered late in the Jan. 9 win at Rutgers, Chris Holtmann said on Wednesday afternoon. The head coach estimated Sotos' recovery timeline – which he deemed as "lengthy" – will keep him out of action for six months, explaining why the decision was made for him to have surgery now.
"If you saw him after the Rutgers game, he was emotional," Holtmann said. "We had a moment there just because he was emotional. I think he knew at that point it could be over. We were trying to exhaust every option to continue the season."
Holtmann didn't give a date of when he'll have the operation but said it'll happen "immediately."
Sotos plans to return for the 2021-22 season by using the extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA to all basketball players. He initially transferred to Ohio State with the idea of sitting out this season and taking a redshirt. But once a waiver allowing him to become immediately eligible was approved and the Buckeyes lost Abel Porter from their roster due to his heart condition, Holtmann put him in the team's 2020-21 plans as well.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard averaged 1.7 points and 1.1 assists in 9.6 minutes per game, coming off the bench in all but two games. Once fully recovered, he'll be expected to play a larger role next season.
The remainder of this year, Ohio State will primarily rely on CJ Walker and Duane Washington Jr. in the backcourt, with Justice Sueing providing some ball-handling ability, Meechie Johnson in a role off the bench at times and off-the-ball guards/wings Justin Ahrens, Musa Jallow and Gene Brown helping out.
