Chris Holtmann announces ailing Ohio State center Zed Key will have season-ending surgery

Ohio State big man Zed Key is getting shut down for the remainder of the season, head coach Chris Holtmann told reporters on Wednesday. Key will have surgery on an injured shoulder that he’s dealt with for weeks.

Key originally injured his shoulder on Jan. 5 against Purdue, but has managed to largely play through it. After re-aggravating it against Iowa on Feb. 16, it appears the calculus has changed and Ohio State will be without the big man for good.

“We’ll be without Zed. Zed is having season-ending surgery here soon. We don’t have an exact date on that, but we’ll have that soon,” Holtmann said.

Despite playing with obvious limitations since his injury, Key is still third on Ohio State in points per game with 10.8 and averages 7.5 rebounds a contest to go with it.

Even still, Ohio State’s season entered a tailspin around the time Key got hurt, and the Buckeyes have won one game in the last 14.

Chris Holtmann says Zed Key will only be shut down if injury is ‘significant’

Less than a week before Key re-aggravated the injury, Holtmann said it would take something notable for Key to get shut down for the year.

The determination to let Key keep playing through the injury was as much up to him and Holtmann as it was the medical staff.

“I think the only way we’d shut it down is if he had another significant injury, or multiple significant injuries with it. I think right now, it’s at the point where it’s strong enough, as determined by our medical team, for him to continue playing. I think sometimes, when he extends it or when he gets hit, it’s painful for him. I give him a lot of credit for fighting through it. Clearly he’s not at his best. But, I think he’s fighting through that particular injury,” Holtmann said.