COLUMBUS — The Ohio State men’s basketball team will depart for the Bahamas this week to play in two summer exhibition games.
Head coach Chris Holtmann said Monday that the Buckeyes are excited to play in some of their first live, game reps since the NCAA Tournament against the Egyptian and Puerto Rican national teams, which the Ohio State skipper said are both talented squads.
“I talked to a couple different coaches and they talked about wanting to play a couple different teams, and for us, we said, 'Hey, just give us the best teams that you have there,” Holtmann said. “We believe the Egyptian national team and the Puerto Rican national team will both be really good teams and good measures for us as a group.”
Holtmann said each Buckeye is participating in practices, but forwards Justice Sueing and Seth Towns will not play in the Bahamas as they’re not fully cleared, and the former is “somewhat limited.” Guard Eugene Brown may also be on a minutes restriction, according to the Ohio State head coach.
The Buckeyes saw more than a half-dozen members of last season’s roster depart or graduate from the program, so they added guards Tanner Holden, Isaac Likekele and Sean McNeil via the transfer portal in addition to five incoming freshmen.
Holtmann said while he doesn’t think he’ll put too much stock into the upcoming exhibition series, it will have an impact on the direction of the rest of the offseason.
“It's very likely that the next three days will determine what group we start, so as you can see, we're not in regular-season mode yet,” Holtmann said. “It's going to be a rotation that's going to be a little more full than it typically is, and we're going to look at a bunch of different combinations.”
Four-star forward Brice Sensabaugh, who ranked as the No. 67 overall recruit in the 2022 class, has made one of the biggest impressions this offseason. Playing in the Kingdom Summer League at Ohio Dominican University July 3, Sensabaugh scored more than 50 points, catching attention from around the program.
Holtmann said while the incoming freshman still has plenty of room to grow, Sensabaugh has played at an “elite” level on the hardwood this offseason.
“He is a natural-born scorer of the ball,” Holtmann said. “He has to continue to work on other aspects of his game, including his fitness and his conditioning, but has some real natural gifts offensively.”
Sueing will be the Buckeyes’ lone returning captain entering the 2022-23 season, and Ohio State will have seven underclassmen among its roster.
The Buckeyes tweeted a light-hearted video July 14 that showed Brown and forward Zed Key leading the team through an orientation for the new players joining the program. Holtmann said he thinks Key will be among the team’s leaders next season.
“I think Zed and Justice are two guys right now that we'll look to going forward,” Holtmann said. “But we've also had some new guys step up, Isaac and Sean, that have been able to be everyday guys and exert a level of leadership that's going to be important for us moving forward.”
While the start of the 2022-23 season isn’t set to begin until November, there’s no shortage of hype surrounding Ohio State’s schedule.
The Buckeyes are already slated to play against San Diego State in the Maui Invitational beginning Nov. 21, then travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to play at Duke Nov. 30 before entering Madison Square Garden to contest North Carolina Dec. 17 in the CBS Sports Classic.
As far as the immediate future goes, Holtmann said he doesn’t necessarily expect the exhibition series in the Bahamas to serve as a “dry run” for Ohio State’s new coaches and players, rather, an opportunity to take inventory ahead of the preseason appearing on the horizon.
“There's some guys that have not ever traveled outside the country, so to have a chance to go do this is going to be fun,” Holtmann said. “I think we're still trying to get to know each other a little bit here, too.”
