When Zed Key walked straight off the court and into the locker room at the Schottenstein Center following a shoulder injury on Thursday, the Buckeyes were in trouble.
Who else could bang down low with 7-foot-4 Purdue center Zach Edey, clog the lane and gobble up his team-leading average of 7.8 rebounds? Felix Okpara stands 6-foot-11 and had already proven to be an electric shot blocker at the college level, but he’s only a true freshman who had all of 18 minutes of Big Ten experience under his belt at that point.
Ohio State lost the game after all, but Key’s absence wasn’t as big a factor as one might’ve assumed. Okpara performed admirably in Key’s stead, logging 30 minutes and limiting the Big Ten’s leading scorer to just 16 points. Edey only got to the free-throw line on four occasions, which was half as many attempts as he’s averaged on the season.
But Sunday’s loss at Maryland showed just how important Key is to the Buckeyes’ bottom line.
“It was the lack of physicality in the paint that he provides, certainly the offensive and defensive rebounding that I think we missed with him.”– Chris Holtmann on missing Zed Key against Maryland
Sidelined for an entire game for the first time this year, Key’s absence was glaring in a game that saw Okpara collect three fouls in the first half alone. Okpara only managed to stay on the court for 12 minutes in College Park and finished with two points. More importantly, he didn't tally a single rebound. The Terrapins are far from the biggest team Ohio State has played this season, but with Key out and Okpara in foul trouble, they more or less dominated the Buckeyes inside.
“I think when we played against a team like that that changes their defenses, I think the ability to kind of play through him and him to play with his physicality, with his back to the basket and his rebounding (would’ve helped). Certainly would’ve helped defensively, too,” Chris Holtmann said Monday. “We certainly still could’ve lost with a fully healthy Zed, I don’t want to attribute it all to that by any stretch. And Maryland deserves credit. But if you said, ‘Hey, what are the specific areas?’ It was the lack of physicality in the paint that he provides, certainly the offensive and defensive rebounding that I think we missed with him.”
Holtmann had no update on Key’s status Monday, but said he’s making “regular progress” with his shoulder and should return “relatively soon.” But given the results of Sunday’s contest, relatively soon might not be soon enough.
Maryland outrebounded Ohio State 40-26, outscored the Buckeyes 34-22 in the paint and got to the free-throw line a whopping 33 times in the 80-73 win. Not even Edey and Purdue managed to outrebound Ohio State by that wide a margin, let alone any other team the Buckeyes have taken on this season, and Maryland shot three more free throws than any previous Ohio State opponent in 2022-23.
When Okpara got into early foul trouble, Ohio State first option as a backup center was Eugene Brown, listed as a guard on the Buckeye roster. Brown has plenty of length as a 6-foot-7 wing, but at 195 pounds, he’s hardly a stand-in for a big man in the bruising Big Ten. Not to mention, Brown is still getting his legs under him after missing the first 11 games of the season due to a concussion suffered in the preseason, and he’s now being asked to play out of position for long stretches just four appearances into his third year at Ohio State. Brown played 17 minutes against Maryland but finished with just three points and two rebounds in the loss.
Beyond Brown, 6-foot-5 Swiss Army knife Isaac Likekele can step in as an auxiliary big from time to time too, but that’s hardly a preferable option for Holtmann and company for any extended period of time.
“Zed’s ability to get guys in foul trouble because of how physical he is in the low post (was missed against Maryland). We don’t have another guy like that,” Holtmann said. “That’s not Felix’s game right now, he’s just a different post player. It’s a learning experience for Felix. His last two fouls of the first half I think were legitimate fouls. His first one I have some argument about. But he’s just gotta learn in this particular situation, the last foul he needed to let go because we needed him in the game.”
Holtmann said avoiding foul trouble will be crucial for Okpara as long as Key is out.
“In his defense, we didn’t put him in great position because we went for a couple shot fakes on his last foul. Perimeter guys, we just need to be better with that,” Holtmann said. “(Staying out of foul trouble) is a conversation we had with him going into the game, it’s a conversation we’ll continue to have. Because his value right now is he needs to be able to give us 20, 25 good minutes because his size and length is so valuable.”
At 6-foot-9 and 230 pounds, starting Maryland big man Julian Reese is far from the toughest challenge Ohio State has to contend with in the conference down low. He didn’t exactly dominate the Buckeyes on Sunday either with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and eight rebounds in the Terrapin win. But his impact was felt nonetheless, as he finished with the best plus/minus (+15) of any player in the game.
Offensive rebounds were of particular concern for the Buckeyes against Maryland. The Terps had 14 on Sunday, which tied the most any team has had against the Buckeyes in 2022-23. The offensive glass was already a major point of emphasis for Holtmann before Key’s injury, but Sunday’s contest only underscored how much of an issue that can be with the starting center sidelined.
A smaller lineup is a trade-off for the Buckeyes. It’s clear what Ohio State gives up in the absence of Key, but with a more versatile and dynamic group on the floor, perhaps the Buckeyes could see a benefit on offense. Going into Sunday’s game, Ohio State already had the No. 1 offense in the country in terms of adjusted efficiency (per KenPom).
But the Buckeye offense didn’t have a banner performance against Maryland. Ohio State had its third-worst collective shooting day of the season (43.6%), and while Brice Sensabaugh and Justice Sueing both showed up with 22 and 21 points respectively, no other Buckeye had more than eight points. That made a difference for a team that’s regularly seen four or more scorers notch double-digit point totals this season.
On a day Ohio State had to play small, it saw no significant advantage on the offensive end.
Ohio State is at its best on both sides of the ball when Key is on the floor, and it sounds as if the Buckeyes won’t be without him for a whole lot longer. Minnesota and Rutgers (Ohio State’s next two opponents) aren’t among the Big Ten’s elite at this stage in the season, giving the Buckeyes two winnable games this week.
But Sunday showed every team in the conference is capable of being a tough out. That’s especially true for Ohio State without Key.
