Ohio State forward Seth Towns announces he is stepping away from basketball

Ohio State forward Seth Towns is stepping away from basketball, he announced Sunday via Twitter. The seventh-year grad student cited multiple injuries throughout his career as the reasoning for his decision.

“It comes with sadness and faith that I must announce I am stepping away from Ohio State and Team 124, and that I will not be playing this season,” Towns wrote. “After a few setbacks this summer and some conversations with my coaches and medical personnel, it has become clear that my body is not in a position to endure a full Big Ten season.

“I share with many of you the frustration of not being able to compete at the level I am capable of. Yet, it is the immense gratitude I feel for having the chance to play at all that has carried me through for so long. I have been remarkably blessed and would be living in vain to let anything overshadow that.”

Once a Buckeye, Always a Buckeye pic.twitter.com/cKS6v0GPr1

— Seth Towns (@219setty) September 4, 2022

Towns spent the past two seasons with the Buckeyes after transferring from Harvard in the 2020-21 season. He appeared in 25 games that year while averaging 3.8 points and 2.2 rebounds across 10.8 minutes. However, he suffered a back injury in the offseason that required surgery and caused him to miss all of 2021-22.

Towns also missed both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons at Harvard due to injury. Prior to that, he was named Ivy League player of the Year and AP All-America honorable mention during the 2017-18 season, averaging 16 points and 5.7 rebounds.

It appears that he wasn’t likely to be ready to play this season either, and decided that it was best for his health to move on.

“As for my immediate future, I’ll be taking some time to figure out what my next chapter looks like,” Towns wrote. “But, I am excited to find what’s next for me and rest in my faith that I will be placed — as I always have been — exactly where I am intended to be.”