Kyle Young is back for the Buckeyes.
The fifth-year senior forward and Ohio State captain missed both the Buckeyes' exhibition against Indianapolis on Nov. 1 and Tuesday's season opener against Akron, but will be available Friday night against Niagara, according to a team release.
Young was diagnosed with a vestibular dysfunction, which is defined by the National Center for Biotechnology Information as “a disturbance in the body's balance system due to peripheral or central causes,” in October. Head coach Chris Holtmann first make Young's issue public on Oct. 29.
“Kyle had a really good summer. I thought he played some of the best that I’d seen him this summer,” Holtmann said at the time. “It might have bothered him, but he didn’t really notice it bothering him significantly until later in the summer, really in the fall. He had a really good summer, so it’s not really been up until recently that we had a chance to look at some different lineups.”
Young missed the final three games of the 2020-21 season after sustaining two concussions less than a month apart. Young last played in the Buckeyes' Big Ten tournament matchup with Purdue, when he scored 18 points in the first half alone.
One player the Buckeyes will not have on Friday is Louisiana transfer guard Cedric Russell. In a program release, Ohio State announced that Russell recently had a death in his family and will miss the game. Russell played four minutes in his Buckeye debut Tuesday.
Ohio State and Niagara are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center.
