A familiar face will be returning for Chris Holtmann’s team in 2022 as we learned on Friday that Seth Towns will be back for one more season in the Scarlet and Gray. The news was first reported by Adam Jardy of The Columbus Dispatch and later confirmed by BuckeyeScoop.com.
Towns missed the entire 2021-22 season due to injury, but according to reports is expected to be fully healthy for a final campaign with the Buckeyes. When Towns is healthy, the production has been good as Towns put up 16 points per game along with 5.7 rebounds per year in the 2017-18 season where he was named Ivy League Player of the Year.
Towns only managed to play in 25 games over the course of his career with the Buckeyes as injuries have kept Towns out of the lineup. Even in the games that he has taken part in, he has averaged just shy of 11 minutes per game for the Buckeyes and just a little less than four points per game.
Knee injuries cost Towns the 2018-19, the 2019-20 and the 2021-22 seasons as it has been a frustrating run for the former Columbus (Ohio) Northland star to find much run in a career that only has seen Towns play in 82 games over the course of six seasons.
This will mark year seven in college for Towns but with injuries and a year lost to COVID, the opportunity was there to come back for one more season, an opportunity that Towns did not want to pass up.
It will be a new-look team in 2022 with Towns being joined by holdovers Justice Sueing, Zed Key and Eugene Brown III along with redshirt Kalen Etzler. The status of Malaki Branham is still unknown as he is going through the draft process but if mock drafts are to be believed, it is doubtful he will be back for a second year at Ohio State.
Ohio State will welcome a five-player recruiting class along with guard Tanner Holden from Wright State next season as the Buckeyes are still active in the transfer portal.