With the number of wings populating Chris Holtmann’s Ohio State roster, it should have come as little surprise that one might decide to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
Less than two weeks after the conclusion of the season, it was redshirt junior guard Musa Jallow that decided to move on, announcing Wednesday that he will leave the Buckeye program in search of other opportunities for his final two years of collegiate eligibility.
Jallow may not have been a heavy statistical contributor in any particular category, but the Bloomington, Indiana, native did find himself in Holtmann’s starting lineup for the final three games of the season, as regular starting forward Kyle Young was out with a concussion.
While Jallow’s transfer means the absence of a tough, scrappy defensive stopper that possessed some of the most explosive athleticism on the team, it will also allow for a bit more clarity in determining where minutes will come from for a slew of Ohio State wings that were beginning to pile on top of each other before Wednesday’s announcement.
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One guard/forward that should be relatively unaffected by the move is redshirt junior Justice Sueing, whose versatile capabilities on both ends of the floor should make him an indispensable part of the Ohio State starting lineup next season.
The Buckeyes that were often in most direct competition with Jallow a season ago were junior forward Justin Ahrens and redshirt junior forward Seth Towns, who may both now benefit from a minutes perspective without the presence of Jallow.
Ahrens, who was red-hot from 3 from much of the season before flaming out considerably over the final month of the season, often provided an offensive trade-off in comparison to the defense Jallow brought to the table.
The pair played comparable minutes, with Ahrens notching 18 per game with nearly 16 for Jallow, and even though they were often played in tandem, there were also stretches of the season when one’s playing time came at the expense of the other.
Despite occasional flashes of brilliance, Towns was clearly hampered this year by the knee injury that cost him the previous two seasons of college basketball. Towns played 10.8 minutes per game in 2020-21 and gave the Buckeyes an average of 3.8 points, but there remains hope that his ceiling could be much higher once completely healthy.
Jallow’s absence may allow Towns the freedom to explore that potential with more minutes next season, assuming rehabilitative efforts on his knee improve over the offseason.
One young Buckeye who may have the most to gain from Jallow’s transfer is Eugene Brown, the 6-foot-6 freshman guard who admitted early on last season that his role was smaller than expected for Ohio State, as he averaged just 6.2 minutes per game in year one.
Before Wednesday, the laundry list of wings on Ohio State’s roster made it unclear how Brown could see a significant uptick in minutes in his second season, and especially with the entrance of top 50 forward Malaki Branham into the program next year.
Without Jallow though, Brown may be called upon more to do some dirty work for the Buckeyes, with the added bonus of his propensity to knock down a timely 3; something that Jallow did not bring to the table for Ohio State.
What was once an almost detrimentally stacked group of wings just a couple days ago has now thinned out a bit for the Buckeyes, and despite losing a defensive specialist on the perimeter, several Ohio State players now have clearer paths to the floor both next season and beyond.
