Even with a weekend off, Ohio State still needed some time to regroup and get back to as healthy as it can be heading into another week of Big Ten play.

Head coach Chris Holtmann said on his weekly radio show that players have been banged up and down with various ailments. He said practice numbers were down so much that former Ohio State point guard Keyshawn Woods rejoined the team helping with practices for one of 10 permitted practice sessions allowed by the NCAA.

“We were a little bit limited in terms of what we could do and, hopefully here at the start of this week, we will get a full group back,” Holtmann said.

The head coach is hoping for good news about freshman guard Meechie Johnson Jr.

Prior to the Buckeyes road loss to Wisconsin, Johnson suffered a facial fracture and a concussion, sidelining him for the past three games. Holtmann said he would know more heading into the week, getting final word on his status heading into road games against Minnesota and Purdue this week, but that he will take the court looking different than he usually does.

“He is going to wear a mask and it’s a whole… he looks like a villain, which I like about that,” Holtmann said. “I like it. It gives a nastiness to him.”

Holtmann said redshirt senior forward Justice Sueing is “starting to do some things in practice. He wouldn’t call it close, saying the redshirt senior forward is still dealing with soreness working back from an abdominal injury, but that he’s taking steps.

Without Sueing or redshirt senior forward Seth Towns, Holtmann said Ohio State has been much younger than it anticipated in 2021-22.

“We’ve been younger this year in a lot of positions than we were last year,” he said. “We didn't quite anticipate it because we thought we were going to have Justice and Seth.”

Ohio State tried to push its matchup with Nebraska back only by a couple days, Holtmann said Monday.

The Buckeye head coach said that he had talked with the Cornhuskers about playing in Columbus Tuesday, something head coach Fred Hoiberg was not able to agree to with his team not being available to play until Thursday.

Instead, Holtmann said he expects the game against Nebraska will be sometime after Ohio State’s home game against Indiana Feb. 19.

Ohio State’s road game Thursday against Minnesota was also pushed back an hour and will tip off at 8 p.m. on ESPN.