Jamison Battle out for Michigan State game, Scotty Middleton to start
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ohio State sharpshooter Jamison Battle is out Sunday at Michigan State with an ankle injury. He’ll be replaced in the starting five by freshman forward Scotty Middleton.
Battle is the Big Ten’s leading 3-point shooter. The fifth-year graduate transfer is shooting 44% from beyond the arc this season and just registered his sixth game this season with five or more 3-pointers Thursday at Minnesota. Battle scored 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting in his return trip to Williams Arena, where the Robbinsdale, Minnesota, native played each of the past two seasons.
Battle is the Buckeyes’ second-leading scorer in 2023-24 with 14.2 points per game. He’s also averaging 5.1 rebounds per game. Battle has logged 20 or more points five times this season.
Middleton starting marks the first time Ohio State has rolled out a different starting five than its season-opening lineup. The Buckeyes will go with Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., Evan Mahaffey, Middleton and Felix Okpara. That lineup has played a combined 3:54 together in Big Ten play.
Middleton is coming off a six-point performance at Minnesota, where he hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first half to help the Buckeyes recover from a slow start out of the gates in “The Barn.”
The Sunrise Christian Academy product finished only 2-of-6 from the field, however. He’s averaging 14.8 minutes, 3.8 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. Middleton, primarily a 3-and-D player for the Buckeyes so far this season, is shooting 35.5% from the field and 37.5% from long range.
Middleton is tied for fourth on the team with 18 made 3-pointers this year.
What Ohio State is up against at Michigan State…
Ohio State allowed a season-high 88 points at Minnesota earlier this week. It can’t afford to do that Sunday against a Michigan State team that ranks second in the Big Ten in points per game allowed (66.2).
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The Spartans lead the league in fastbreak points, and Tyson Walker is a big reason why. He’s fifth in the Big Ten in scoring with 18.3 points per game. A one-time Northeastern star, Walker has reached or eclipsed the 20-point barrier 10 times this season, three times piling up at least 25 points.
Forward Malik Hall (12.8 points), as well as guards A.J. Hoggard (11.3) and Jaden Akins (11.0), are all averaging double-digit points, too.
Ohio State’s been outrebounded in each of its first two games since interim head coach Jake Diebler replaced recently-fired Chris Holtmann. The Buckeyes will have a better chance on the glass against Michigan State, which is outside the top 150 nationally in rebounding margin.
Rebounding, countering the Spartans’ transition efforts with some of their own and finishing halves the right way will be key for the Buckeyes in the Breslin Center.
