Zed Key's season is over.
The Ohio State junior center will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery after re-aggravating an injury last week, Chris Holtmann announced during a press conference Wednesday. Key missed Sunday's Purdue game due to the injury, which he's worn a brace to protect since mid-January.
"We wanted him to get back to campus to evaluate him, so the medical team could fully evaluate him, and I think they didn't feel comfortable clearing him given some of his continued issues with his shoulder," Holtmann said. "And we had always intended for him to have surgery, this just moved up the surgery with the season ending.
"I think the biggest thing they were testing was the strength, the overall strength, and as that continued to weaken and not get better, I think they felt like he was just going to be susceptible to further injury. And they just didn't feel comfortable clearing him, which I fully supported. And I know Zed and his family felt some relief in the sense that they can move forward and get the surgery done a little bit earlier and hopefully have a little bit of a longer offseason next year."
Zed Key looking on from the sideline as the Buckeyes warm up at Mackey pic.twitter.com/g6QD1vld8U
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) February 19, 2023
Key said the brace impacted his ability to breathe and run up and down the floor, and his production has declined since tweaking his shoulder in Ohio State's first matchup with Purdue on Jan. 5. Before that game, Key averaged 13.4 points per game on 63.5% shooting and pulled down 8.4 rebounds in the first 13 games of the season. In his 11 appearances after Jan. 5, Key averaged 8.8 points on 44.7% shooting.
Holtmann previously said the Buckeye medical staff believed Key's shoulder injury could be managed through the end of the season, and that it would be determined if surgery would be required after the fact. Following the latest setback, though, Key's season is done after 25 appearances in his third year in scarlet and gray.
"Zed took real strides. In particular, before his injury," Holtmann said about Key's season. "He took real strides in terms of his overall play."
With Key out, freshman center Felix Okpara will likely see the bulk of the minutes down low. Okpara has started three games so far this season and is averaging 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
Ohio State returns to action Thursday in a 6:30 p.m. matchup with Penn State at the Schottenstein Center, and closes the regular season with matchups against Illinois, Maryland and Michigan State after that.
