Ohio State could be without several key players against Michigan State

Any time there’s a Big Ten showdown between tournament-caliber teams, you’d hope that both teams are at full strength. Unfortunately, the Michigan State vs Ohio State game will feature two short-handed — albeit tournament — teams.

Michigan State is down Divine Ugochukwu and Kaleb Glenn for the season. Ugochukwu was one of the most improved shooters in the country this season and Glenn was supposed to be an athletic sharpshooter, but he got injured before the year and was ruled out until 2026-27.

Ohio State may be even more hampered.

In fact, the Buckeyes are already without freshman Myles Herro for the season but three more players have been ruled out for Sunday’s game and two more are surprisingly questionable, according to the official availability report.

John Mobley is the team’s second-best player and he’s out along rough Brandon Noel who averages 7.4 points per game this season. Josh Ojianwuna, a former top-100 prospect, is also out on Sunday.

The two surprising questionables are Devin Royal (14.0 points, 5.6 rebounds) and Amare Bynum (9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds). Those are Ohio State’s third and fifth-leading scorers. There’s a legitimate chance that Ohio State could be without four of its top six scorers on Sunday afternoon. That would be detrimental to their hopes.

Ohio State could be heavily short-handed at Michigan State

We already knew that Mobley would be out for Sunday’s game, but the second-leading scorer is just one of a handful of guys who could miss the matchup. That could hurt Ohio State’s tourney chances, too.

According to the availability report, Ohio State could be missing nearly 50 points per game on Sunday afternoon and Michigan State will be down just Ugochukwu and Glenn who hasn’t played all year. That gives Michigan State yet another advantage.

I’d be kind of shocked if we didn’t see Royal and Bynum, but they’re clearly hampered by some sort of injury. Jake Diebler is going to have to channel his inner 2024 self in order to upset Michigan State.

Michigan State should be able to take care of business. A loss here to a short-handed Ohio State team on the bubble would be a killer.