What Ohio State gets in West Virginia transfer Sean McNeil

Ohio State needed a guard.

The program already got one in Wright State transfer Tanner Holden: a bigger wing who could be one of the main scorers for the Buckeyes heading into 2022-23. But Chris Holtmann needed a player who could run the show a bit more.

He found it in Sean McNeil.

The former West Virginia guard announced that he was joining the Buckeyes for his senior season after starting all 32 games for the Mountaineers a season ago, shooting a career-high 41.4% from the field and 36.8% from 3.

He averaged 12.2 points per game in each of his last two seasons, along with a career high 1.4 assist, 2.5 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game.

McNeil joins a roster that's beginning to take shape.

Ohio State confirmed that both Justice Sueing and Seth Towns will be returning for one more season after both missed nearly all of the 2021-22 season with respective injuries, the former playing just over 30 minutes in the first two games of the season.

Towns and Sueing are joined by Zed Key, Kalen Etzler and Eugene Brown III as the returners from the 2021-22 team.

Ohio State also has a top-five recruiting class from 2022, bringing in Bruce Thornton,Brice Sensabaugh,Roddy Gayle Jr.,Bowen Hardman and Felix Okpara.

McNeil gives Ohio State experience at a position it needs experience in, filled by guards Jamari Wheeler, Cedric Russell and Jimmy Sotos last season: all three transfer guards.

At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, he also continues to have that larger presence that Holtmann has started to build his team after, along with the addition of Holden.

The combination of Holden and McNeil will have to try and replicate the numbers Malaki Branham put up, developing over the course of one season into one of the more consistent scorers and playmakers on the roster as a freshman.

Ohio State has big shoes to fill with a desperate need for experience.

McNeil brings that next step for the Buckeyes heading into 2022-23.