Eric Boggs
Ohio State Basketball sophomore guard Taison Chatman will miss the entire 2024-25 basketball season after tearing the ACL in his left knee. The injury seriously affects the backcourt depth for Head Coach Jake Diebler and his Ohio State Buckeyes who are five months away from the basketball season beginning.
“I’m incredibly sad for Taison that he’s going to miss the entire year. After a challenging start to his college career, he worked hard to play a role for us at the end of last season. He continued to develop this spring and was doing well in workouts. I was looking forward to seeing him progress this year. But I know he’ll work hard and return as soon as possible.”
Ohio State Head Coach Jake Diebler
Chatman underwent successful surgery to repair the ligament on Tuesday. The same knee required meniscus surgery last offseason, which slowed his progress as a freshman and caused him to miss the first four games of the season.
Chatman was the highest-rated prospect in Ohio State’s 2023 recruiting class, which ranked seventh nationally. He was a four-star combo guard, considered the nation’s No. 39 recruit. As a freshman, he played in 17 games, scoring 17 points and recording six assists, averaging 4.2 minutes per game.
With Meechie Johnson Jr. and Bruce Thornton set to be the Buckeyes’ starting guards, the only pure guard available off the bench now is incoming freshman Juni Mobley. San Diego State transfer wing Micah Parrish and small forward Evan Mahaffey may also handle some ball-handling and distribution duties.
Ohio State still has one scholarship available, initially intended for additional frontcourt depth. However, with Chatman’s injury, focusing on adding another guard seems more likely.
