The Ohio State men’s basketball program has been busy this offseason, acquiring three players from the transfer portal ahead of the 2023-24 season. Credit: Katie Good | Lantern File Photo
Bonner, Mahaffey, Battle: the new guys at the Schottenstein Center.
The 2022-23 Ohio State men’s basketball team’s record fell under the 0.500 mark for the first time since 2003-04, leading to some major changes to be made. During the 60-day period for players to enter the transfer portal — which ended May 11 — the Buckeyes lost three and gained three players.
Seth Towns headed to Howard, Tanner Holden returned to Wright State and Eugene Brown took his talent to Georgia Southern. Ohio State suffered two more losses when Justice Sueing and freshman standout Brice Sensabaugh declared for the NBA draft.
But maybe new is what the Buckeyes need to improve their record and rise in the Big Ten rankings next season.
From the transfer portal, Ohio State acquired Dale Bonner, a redshirt-senior shooting guard from Baylor, former Penn State forward and true sophomore Evan Mahaffey and Jamison Battle from Minnesota — a fifth-year small forward.
Battle, the 6-foot-7, 225-pound former Gopher, was a four-star transfer prospect according to 247 Sports. He officially became a Buckeye April 6 and was Ohio State’s first pick out of the portal.
In 2022-23, Battle was a team captain and averaged 12.5 points, notching 46 assists and 16 steals. During his first year with Minnesota, he upped his scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game, which he could get back to next season with the Buckeyes if injury does not become a factor.
In the Gophers matchup against Ohio State on Jan. 12, Battle posted 11 points. He also added an assist and a block to help his former team defeat his new team 70-67.
The bottom two spots in last year’s final Big Ten rankings belonged to Ohio State and Minnesota. Battle was one piece of consistency for the Gophers, adding him to a young Buckeye team could have a positive effect.
Battle spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at George Washington University where he averaged 17.3 points his sophomore year and shot 78 percent from the free-throw line.
Bonner, who announced his commitment to Ohio State April 17 via Instagram with the caption “Let’s Work!,” played his last two seasons with the Bears, but his first two for Fairmont State — a Division II school in West Virginia.
The 6-foot-3, 170-pound Shaker Heights, Ohio, native averaged 4.7 points per game off the bench last season, along with 79 assists and 40 steals — 12th in the Big 12 conference. He scored his Baylor career-high 15 points at Oklahoma State Feb. 27 in the Bears’ 74-68 win.
Over his two years at Fairmont State, Bonner led the Fighting Falcons in scoring, assists and steals. In his sophomore season — 2020-21 — he averaged 20.2 points per game, a team-high.
The most recent Buckeye acquisition is a preceding Big Ten foe, Mahaffey, who played in 34 of 37 games off the bench last season for the Nittany Lions.
Mahaffey is 6 feet, 6 inches, 200 pounds and averaged 2.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in the 2022-23 season. Despite stepping on the court in nearly every game, he played roughly nine minutes per contest but shot 57 percent from the field.
As the No. 3 player in Ohio in 2022 and Cincinnati.com’s Ohio Player of the Year after his senior season, Mahaffey now finds himself playing just one hour and 29 minutes from his high school court.
At Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, he earned those accolades by shooting 64 percent from the field and averaging 15.7 points per game, according to Penn State’s athletics website.
Mahaffey announced his commitment on Instagram May 3 with a caption that said, “Next Chapter,” with a red heart.
Ohio State’s season tips off at the Schottenstein Center Nov. 6 against Oakland. The full non-conference schedule can be found here.
