Ohio State senior guard Jimmy Sotos (1) looks for an opening during the Ohio State-Illinois State game on Nov. 25. Ohio State won 94-67. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
In a fight for early positioning in the Big Ten, Ohio State will have to take on a premier conference opponent without two of the Buckeyes’ key contributors.
Ohio State (8-3) enters its second matchup with No. 15 Rutgers (7-3) shorthanded, as they will be without redshirt senior guard C.J. Walker and redshirt junior guard Musa Jallow. With multiple key injuries, head coach Chris Holtmann said the Buckeyes will experiment with different lineups going forward.
“We tried to look at some things, tried to evaluate at what point, moving some guys around and playing some guys at different positions,” Holtmann said Thursday. “We’ll manage, guys will need to step up.”
One player that is expected to step in for the injured Walker is senior guard Jimmy Sotos, who transferred from Bucknell in the offseason.
Sotos has played in all 11 games for the Buckeyes but has never logged more than 14 minutes in a single game.
Averaging a career-high 11.5 points per game in his final season at Bucknell, Sotos has struggled to tally points early on with Ohio State — scoring a total of 14 points on the season.
Despite subdued performances so far, Holtmann said Sotos is ready to fill the void left by Walker.
“I think he’s ready. I’m looking forward to seeing his minutes increase and his role will definitely need to increase,” Holtmann said. “I think he’s had good preparation, good practice, I’m looking forward to seeing him and along with a couple of our other guys in increased roles with the absence of CJ (Walker).”
The Buckeyes are coming off their largest loss of the season in a 77-60 defeat to then-No. 21 Minnesota. The result gave Ohio State a losing record in the Big Ten for the third time this season.
With Wednesday’s game against Penn State postponed, Ohio State will need to top Rutgers for a second time this season to avoid opening conference play with a 2-4 record.
The last time these two teams met, the Buckeyes overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to beat then-No. 11 Rutgers 80-68. Ohio State outscored the Scarlet Knights 52-30 in the second half en route to the comeback win.
Holtmann called their last bout with Rutgers one of the more “unique” games he’s ever coached.
“You don’t come back from 16 much against, much less, the 11th ranked team in the country,” Holtmann said. “It was just a really unique game in a lot of ways, but give them credit. They made some shots, some of which were really tough.”
Rutgers was led by junior guard Ron Harper Jr., who put up a team-high 20 points on 8-of-20 shooting in the loss.
The duo of sophomore forward E.J. Liddell and junior guard Duane Washington Jr. combined for more than half of Ohio State’s scoring output in the win — tallying 43 points between the two.
However, this time around the Buckeyes will have to take on the Scarlet Knights in their home environment known as the RAC. Rutgers is 6-1 when playing at home this season, with its lone home loss coming to then-No. 10 Iowa.
“They’re really, really good there, just really good in that environment at the RAC,” Holtmann said. “So I think we’re going to have to make their guards miss, because they can get on an absolute roll.”
Despite the postponement and injuries piling up, Holtmann said that the Buckeyes’ morale is still high.
“I think our spirit is good. It’s been really good in practice,” Holtmann said. “They were disappointed not to be able to play this week — like you’d expect — but I think we’ve talked about it, resiliency in this league, this season, in the midst of what we’re going through is so important, and up to this point, they’ve done a really good job being a resilient group.”
