Buckeyes Now

Ohio State Leading Scorer, Rebounder E.J. Liddell Healthy Again, Will Play vs. UCLA

Liddell missed the last two games as he recovered from mononucleosis and the Buckeyes really missed his presence on the floor.

Brendan Gulick

Ohio State Leading Scorer, Rebounder E.J. Liddell Healthy Again, Will Play vs. UCLA
Ohio State Leading Scorer, Rebounder E.J. Liddell Healthy Again, Will Play vs. UCLA /

Ohio State (5-1) is coming off its first loss of the season, a setback at Purdue in the Big Ten opener on Wednesday in West Lafayette. Part of what plagued the Buckeyes in that game was the fact they didn't have their best player on the floor.

That will reportedly change for Saturday's big non-conference matchup in Cleveland.

According to CBS Sports Insider Jon Rothstein, Ohio State sophomore forward E.J. Liddell will be back on the floor Saturday afternoon for Ohio State's big game with UCLA.

Liddell is the Buckeyes leading scorer and rebounder this season, last posting a 19-point, 12-rebound effort against Notre Dame.

Liddell missed two games while he recovered from mononucleosis.

"We're going to evaluate him in practice today and see," said head coach Chris Holtmann in a Friday press conference. "I do think he's making improvements in how he's feeling and his fatigue. I do think there's some improvement there for sure. The final word will be if he's able to practice at all."

However, the Buckeyes will still be without Seth Towns (knee) and Ibrahima Diallo (concussion) on Saturday. 

Ohio State is playing UCLA instead of North Carolina because tournament organizers decided it was best to align four non-conference teams with their respective conference CoVID protocols in mind. The game tips off at 4:15 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

-----

You may also like:

Chris Holtmann Press Conference Highlights After Losing to Purdue

Ohio State Will Now Play UCLA Instead of North Carolina on Saturday

First Half Notebook: No. 20 Ohio State vs. Purdue

Ibrahima Diallo Unavailable for Tonight's Game Against Purdue

Former Ohio State Coach Tara VanDerveer Becomes All-Time Winningest Coach in Women's College Basketball History

-----

Be sure to stay locked into BuckeyesNow all the time!

Join the BuckeyesNow community!
Subscribe to the BuckeyesNow YouTube channel
Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendangulick22
Follow BuckeyesNow on Twitter: @BuckeyesNowSI
Like and follow BuckeyesNow on Facebook

Published
Brendan Gulick
BRENDAN GULICK

Brendan Gulick is the publisher for BuckeyesNow, Cleveland Baseball Insider and Cavs Insider on the FanNation Network. He is also an accomplished host and play-by-play voice on TV and radio, including on Big Ten Network and NCAA.com where he's called 45 NCAA national championships. Gulick is an update anchor and fill-in host at 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Ohio.

Home/Basketball