"Emotional" Justice Sueing Leads Ohio State To Season-Opening Win In Return From Injury

Nearly a year since he last played, the sixth-year senior scored a game-high 20 points against Robert Morris.

It had been 360 days since Ohio State sixth-year senior forward Justice Sueing played in a game, as an abdominal injury cost him almost all of last season.

But back in the starting lineup for Monday's 91-53 win over Robert Morris, Sueing showed no signs of rust, pitching in a team-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

“It was really emotional,” Sueing said after the game. “I talked to my pops before this and just talked about how God put me through these couple of hurdles that I had to deal with over this past year.

"I think it built me to be stronger as a man and as a player, so it was just a quick little prayer to thank God and then I yelled to get myself hyped and got right into it.”

The 6-foot-6 and 210-pound Sueing – who is now in his fourth season with the program after transferring from California – actually missed two free throws in the early going but bounced back rather quickly.

He scored four of the Buckeyes' first nine points, then after taking a breather on the bench, helped Ohio State go on an 18-6 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers and two assists, to take a 31-21 first-half lead.

“I just finally felt comfortable to be out there healthy with these guys,” Sueing said. “We’ve worked really hard over these past couple of weeks, past couple of months really, to get here. Now that the season is actually here, we’re just taking it one day at a time.”

Sueing initially suffered the injury during the Buckeyes' 2020-21 postseason run, and though he was expected to play a major role last season, appeared in just two games before it flared up and he was shut down.

There were points during the season where it appeared Sueing might return, but that never happened. He then suffered a sprained ankle in preseason practice, which kept him from playing in the exhibition win over Chaminade last week.

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With that, some began to wonder if Sueing would truly be healthy enough to have an impact for this season. His steal and dunk in transition midway through the second half, which put Ohio State up by 27, seemingly answered that question.

“I hope that attachment goes away,” Sueing said. “Injuries, unfortunately, are attached to sports in general, and every time you go out there, there’s always risk for it.

“But I worked really hard on my body this summer just to get it back in shape, went through a lot of ups and downs, but I’m real persistent with it and I’m going to continue to get my body in the best shape I can.”

That was Sueing's final basket of the night, as head coach Chris Holtmann began clearing his bench at the next timeout. The two then shared a moment on the sideline, understanding all it took for him to get to that point.

“I told him how proud of him I was and how happy I was for him," Holtmann said during his postgame press conference. "I'm just really happy for the kid.”

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