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Zed Key to have season-ending shoulder surgery

IMG_7408by:Andy Backstrom•02/22/23•

andybackstrom

Zed Key by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
Ohio State center Zed Key has been dealing with a left shoulder sprain since Jan. 5 in the Buckeyes' first meeting against Purdue. (Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

COLUMBUS — Ohio State center Zed Key won’t be returning to the court this season. Key, who originally suffered a left shoulder sprain on Jan. 5 against Purdue, re-aggravated the injury last week at Iowa and missed the Buckeyes’ second matchup with the Boilermakers Sunday.

Now, he’s shutting it down for the season.

Head coach Chris Holtmann said Wednesday that Key will have surgery on his shoulder. That means that the center position will be manned by freshman Felix Okpara, junior wing Eugene Brown III and even former preferred walk-on and Citadel transfer Owen Spencer.

Key, the Buckeyes’ leading rebounder, came into Iowa City having averaged 9.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game while posting a 46.7% 2-point field goal percentage since the injury. In Ohio State’s first 13 games this season, a healthy Key was averaging 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds while converting 70.6% of his 2-point attempts. Also, six of Key’s seven made 3-pointers this season came in that early-season span.

Prior to this past weekend, Key had missed only one full game — a Jan. 8 contest at Maryland — after being diagnosed with the sprain. He came off the bench against Minnesota and Rutgers before starting the next nine games.

But he was limited by a protective brace that he said made it more difficult for him to breathe and extend around the rim.

The Buckeyes could have used Key Sunday against a Zach Edey-led Purdue team that outrebounded Ohio State, 44-21, not to mention that the Boilermakers outscored the Buckeyes in the paint, 40-20. The 7-foot-4 Edey finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

Ohio State has posted a sub-70% defensive rebounding percentage in 11 games this season. The Buckeyes have dropped to 184th nationally in 2-point field goal percentage (50.2%).

Ohio State, currently second-to-last in the league standings, has four Big Ten regular season games remaining and is facing an eight-game skid, its longest losing streak since 1997-98.

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