Offseason ahead 'critical' for not-quite-healthy Seth Towns

COLUMBUS, Ohio –– He may have been coming off a two-year injury-induced basketball hiatus ahead of this past season, but when the Buckeyes landed Seth Towns out of the transfer portal last year, it was a big deal.

The pre-injury heights that the 6-foot-8 forward and Columbus native reached at Harvard included Ivy League Player of the Year hardware, and if Towns could resemble anything close to his 2017-18 form at Ohio State, Chris Holtmann and company would be receiving a tangible and immediate boost.

As the 2020-21 season wore on though, it became increasingly evident that Towns’ injury issues were not completely behind him just yet, and that the full brunt of his potential contributions might not be able to be felt until the following year.

After this offseason though, that year will be rapidly approaching.

“I was really proud of him, he helped us win games,” Holtmann, the Buckeyes’ head coach, said last week. “I’m excited about what’s next for him. I think his offseason is as critical as anyone on our team, for sure.”

Towns, who didn’t debut for the Buckeyes until Dec. 19, averaged a meager 3.8 points per game in 10.8 minutes last season. However, Holtmann is not wrong in his assessment that Towns was instrumental in more than one big Ohio State win.

In particular, Towns’ offensive savvy and long-range sharpshooting were on full display in overtime against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament in March, when the Northland High School alum buried two outside shots in a crucial stretch that swung momentum in the Buckeyes’ favor for a survive-and-advance win.

That was one of five contests in which Towns notched a double-digit scoring total, but it was obvious that a couple factors held him back from being even more effective on a consistent basis.

Wearing protective gear on his previously injured knee for most of the season, Towns occasionally grimaced in pain, grabbed at the leg, walked or ran gingerly and worked on an exercise bike on the sideline when taken out of games.

That wear and tear was not aided by the fact that Towns, more of a natural small forward, often had to bang around in the paint on defense for the Buckeyes because of his 6-foot-8 frame and the team’s undersized roster.

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Towns was not the only Buckeye that was visibly worn down by the tail end of the season though, and Holtmann says he’s investigating some of the potential reasons for that as summer approaches.

“One of the two or three things we’re looking and really examining hard here in the postseason is why we were banged up towards the end of the year like we were, with Justice (Sueing) and obviously Kyle (Young)’s was kind of a freakish incident,” Holtmann said. “But all of those collectively that impacted us, we’re taking a good, hard look at that, as there’s some things we could’ve done better as a staff.”

It seems that health, more than anything else, is chief for Towns’ improvement over the offseason. Besides seeing his minutes limited in games at times, the former three-star recruit could often not practice during this past season, which no doubt impacted his conditioning, defensive capabilities and overall rhythm on the floor.

The flashes of brilliance were evident from Towns this past year though, and if he can unlock more of his former self with a solid offseason ahead of 2021-22, the upside for the Buckeyes will only continue to climb.

“He’s just gotta get healthy,” Holtmann said. “He’s gotta get fully healthy.”

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