Jamison Battle injury: Latest on Ohio State forward ahead of Nebraska matchup
Ohio State forward Jamison Battle was absent for the Buckeyes' thrilling 60-57 road win over the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday, snapping a 420-day, 17-game road losing streak.
Battle appeared for the warmup against Michigan State dressed in sweats but did not play. He reportedly sustained an ankle injury in the game against Minnesota on Thursday, and his status is up in the air ahead of his team's showdown against Nebraska on Feb. 29.
After Sunday's game, Buckeyes coach Jake Diebler revealed that Battle's status had been touch and go for the Spartans fixture.
"He was pushing so hard to try and get back," Diebler said.
The interim coach spoke about Battle's availability for the rest of the season on Monday.
“If we had another day or two, it might’ve been different,” Diebler said. “We wanted to do what was best for him. We trusted him to evaluate how well he could play out there, and after doing some texting and things, it didn’t seem like he was really going to be able to have the impact he wanted to have.
“No one anticipates this to be a long-term thing. This set him up to be successful for the rest of the season.”
Freshman wing Scotty Middleton and power forward Devin Royal have filled in for Jamison Battle during his absence.
Jamison Battle revenge game falls flat
Jamison Battle is the second highest points scorer for the Ohio State Buckeyes, averaging 14.2 points just behind Bruce Thornton. His 2.7 3-pointers per game, shot at 44%, marks him as the deadliest shooter from deep in the Big Ten.
He transferred to the Buckeyes from the Minnesota Golden Gophers via the transfer portal in the spring, and there has been lingering bad blood between the parties due to Battle's actions when the schools met in December.
Battle scored 25 points, including four 3-pointers, which included a stare-down of his former team's bench after sinking one from beyond the arc, a gesture that his former team did not forget after the 84-74 loss.
Minnesota guard Mike Mitchell Jr. mentioned that the team had discussed Battle's gesture before the schools met again.
“Yeah, for sure, it was mentioned,” Mitchell said. “I’m not going to comment about that, though. We’ll see when the game comes.”
Jamison Battle was on the end of a wall of boos at Williams Arena that he called home for four years.
His team lost 88-79 to the Golden Gophers, even though he registered 21 points, three rebounds and two assists. However, this time, there was no showmanship from the forward.
During his postgame news conference, Golden Gophers coach Ben Johnson refused to be drawn into the debate about the game being revenge for Battle's previous actions in the reverse matchup.
"I’m sure there was a little bit there but I think it was more of they know how much protecting home matters. That was a big part of it. This was a revenge game in terms of we didn’t want to get swept, we talk about that," Johnson said. "There was a combination of all of those things, but the majority of it was they understand, and they’re bought into the right now."
It remains to be seen whether the Ohio State Buckeyes will have Jamison Battle ready for their clash against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Thursday.