Thirteen days after getting his appendix removed, Kyle Young is back.
Ohio State's junior power forward is cleared and will start against Indiana on Saturday afternoon. He missed two games after having his appendix removed following the Buckeyes' loss to West Virginia on Dec. 29.
Chris Holtmann said Young wanted to play in Tuesday's road loss to Maryland but was held out. Young is dealing with some pain, the head coach said on Friday, but whether he was deemed ready to play or not was based on his level of fatigue.
The 6-foot-8, 205-pound forward known for his energy and activity averages 8.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 22.8 minutes per game. He shoots 66.7 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 64.7 percent from the free-throw line.
Young's return won't singlehandedly fix Ohio State's recent offensive struggles by any means, but he could offer a boost, Holtmann believes.
"He's not the guy that you're looking at and you're saying you can count on him to be a double-figure scorer," Chris Holtmann said on Friday. "But in some ways what he's doing is he plays off others so well that he's allowing others to get shots. Sometimes, I think, when we play at times some of our lineups without Kyle, we have situations where guys weren't patient enough, and Kyle kind of lets it happen.
"When we have had lulls with Kyle in the lineup, he's been a guy who has either caught a dump down or got an offensive rebound or kept a possession alive. Listen, it's not like he's the answer to all of our offensive issues. We understand that. But he does help."
Ohio State-Indiana tips off at noon in Bloomington on Saturday. It'll be shown on Fox.
