Ohio State third-year center Zed Key is facing a lengthy recovery after shoulder surgery, but he's hoping for a bigger role next year.
Ohio State center Zed Key discusses his shoulder surgery in this Feb. 27, 2023 press conference.to what would become a season-ending injurySituated on the left block in the opening minutes of a home game with No. 1 Purdue, the Ohio State center was attempting to box out the behemoth that is Zach Edey as Caleb Furst missed a free throw. When the 7-4 Edey reached over the 6-8 Key, the Buckeye came away from the contact holding his left shoulder and clearly in pain.
Now it’s a focus on the road to recovery for Key, who finishes the year having averaged career-best marks of 10.8 points and 7.5 rebounds in 24.8 minutes per game. Those totals, albeit largely in non-conference play, were gaudier before the injury. After averaging 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 69.8% on two-point field goals, those numbers dropped to 8.8, 7.2 and 46.3%, respectively, in 11 games with the injury and a heavy brace on the shoulder.
“It was tough,” he said. “Obviously I’ve been battling through it. It was like I could keep pushing through it, but where it was at the Iowa game, there was no reason to keep going. I had to think about it for a couple days. I took some long, hard thinking and decided to shut it down.” “He will not have a full summer, but I still think we can get him to where he needs to get to get to play those two guys together, I really do,” Holtmann said. “ had some really good moments this year and some really good growth opportunities, but this will be a critical offseason for him. It’ll be somewhat limited, but it’s still going to be a very critical offseason.”
“Obviously continue to expand my game,” he said. “Shoot more 3s. I don’t know how many I made this year, or how many I shot, but just keep expanding from that. Faster footwork. Better conditioning. Same things I said last year. Just keep improving in it, keep growing my game versatile, keep expanding it to the perimeter.
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