Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann updates status of D.J. Carton, Musa Jallow and other Buckeyes

Musa Jallow’s status going forward is uncertain, but otherwise the Ohio State men’s basketball team is dealing with little else than bumps and bruises entering Wednesday’s exhibition game against Cedarville.

That was the word from coach Chris Holtmann on Monday afternoon at Value City Arena as he addressed fans as part of the annual Basketball Tipoff Event hosted by The Sportsmanship Club of Columbus. After allowing fans to watch roughly 40 minutes of practice that included some five-on-five scrimmaging, Holtmann took questions from those in attendance for about 20 minutes.

Based on his comments, and what was seen during the practice, Jallow appears to be the only player who won’t be available for the exhibition against the Yellow Jackets.

“Everybody is relatively healthy right now outside of Musa,” Holtmann said. “Justin Ahrens is, I think he would probably put himself at 70 percent or around that. He’s by no means 100 percent where he was. Everybody else has some regular bumps and bruises but nothing of significance. I don’t really have a timeline yet on Musa.”

Jallow has been sidelined since the start of the preseason with an ankle ailment that eventually forced him to have an arthroscopic procedure Oct. 18. He remains out indefinitely.

Ahrens suffered a back injury during the summer that cost him roughly three months and robbed him of most of his offseason, but Jallow’s situation has been lingering for some time. The junior watched practice while wearing a walking boot on his right leg and Ahrens had a black tape job on his right (non-shooting) thumb.

“Musa had had an ankle that has been bothering him and we did as much as we can in terms of rehab in the summer,” Holtmann said. “He did not want to have surgery in the summer and we thought he could play through it. He tried to play through it in the summer. He tried to do everything he could to not go into surgery and then we were forced to. We’ll see what happens with him as the season progresses.”

Based on practice action, freshman D.J. Carton and E.J. Liddell looked full-go and appear to be ready to play against Cedarville. Liddell missed the start of the preseason with a lower-leg injury, while Carton suffered an ankle sprain during an Oct. 20 closed scrimmage against Louisville.

Here's what we know about that "secret" scrimmage.

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