Chris Holtmann discusses what Bryce Sensabaugh's absence means for Ohio State vs. Michigan State

Ohio State Basketball will be without leading scorer and freshman star Brice Sensabaugh as they try for their third win in three days in the Big Ten Conference Tournament quarterfinals vs. Michigan State this afternoon. According to head coach Chris Holtmann, he’s being held out over some knee soreness that flared up vs. Iowa.

Here was the head coach’s brief breakdown of the Sensabaugh situation:

“Well, he’s being evaluated and I think it’s clearly the right move. And he needs to be evaluated further before he’s ready to play. So he’s in the process of continuing to be evaluated and tests are being done. We’ll go from there.”

Per Holtmann, the Sensabaugh suffered the injury late in the second half of yesterday’s win.

“Late in the game yesterday. And, you know, he kind of motioned that he needed to come out and I wasn’t sure why, I thought it was fatigue. We brought him out, he said, ‘hey, my knee is not feeling right.’ And that’s why he sat for the last probably five minutes.”

Lastly, Holtmann was asked by Andy Katz how his team can overcome the absence of their lead scorer on such short notice. Holtmann’s answer:

“Well listen, our guys, as we’ve talked about Andy, our guys have really played well these last few weeks and it’s obviously going to take a tremendous effort from a number of guys. We need a lot of contributions from a lot of guys. We’re going to have to, again, on the defensive end, that’s what has kind of carried us. But we’re going to need some guys to step up and make shots in Bryce’s absence.”

Certainly a gut punch to lose Brice Sensabaugh during a great run in the Big Ten tourney. However, Chris Holtmann is confident his other players are capable of stepping in and filling the gaps.