The Ohio State men’s basketball team snapped their seven-game winning streak last Saturday after blowing an 18-point lead to Penn State, and the lumps from that defeat still may be coming for the program this week. Speaking with the media for the first time since the loss to the Nittany Lions, head coach Chris Holtmann said that a trio of impact guards — freshman Taison Chatman and Scotty Middleton and sophomore Roddy Gayle Jr. — are all dealing with injuries that could sideline them for the team’s CBS Sports Classic matchup with UCLA on Saturday, with Chatman described as “questionable” for the game.
“Roddy and Scotty are making progress, so we’ll see,” Holtmann said. “They’re being evaluated every day-to-day, but they’re making good progress. So it’s encouraging for Saturday. Taison has been out with an injury not related to his knee, his knee is healthy. So he’s certainly questionable going into Saturday.”
Holtmann did not specify when or how these injuries occurred, and it is unclear the type of ailment each player suffered.
If all three Buckeyes are ruled out for Saturday’s contest against the Bruins, they will feel the most impact from the absences of Gayle and Middleton, who have each emerged as reliable two-way players for Holtmann’s team through the first month of the season. Starting all 10 games for Ohio State, Gayle ranks second on the team behind only sophomore guard Bruce Thornton in minutes (30.1), points per game (18.5) and assists (38), while also shooting an efficient 53.8 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from three.
Middleton has also emerged as an impact player for Ohio State in his first collegiate season. While he has yet to start a game, the former four-star prospect has made his presence felt in his first nine appearances, averaging 6.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 17.8 minutes per contest.
Chatman has appeared in just four games in logged 16 minutes due to a separate injury he sustained over the offseason. The four-star freshman out of Minneapolis (Minn.) Totino-Grace was unable to practice for the majority of the preseason and beginning of the regular season after undergoing knee surgery in early October. Since returning to the floor and making his collegiate debut in Ohio State’s Emerald Coast Classic win over Alabama on Nov. 25, Chatman has yet to score a point and has totaled just three assists, one rebound, while also recording five fouls.
