On young team, Ohio State veteran Zed Key takes 'old man' talk from teammates in stride
There was a running joke, seemingly not all that long ago, about Greg Oden and his age compared to his appearance. A one-and-done freshman star at Ohio State in 2006-07, Oden didn’t turn 19 until he was in the thick of Big Ten play but possessed the genetic disposition of someone arguably three times his age.
Oden was a rare bird in those times, a player destined to not be long for his school in an age where transfers had to sit out a season and players were less likely to professionalize early without being guaranteed to be a first-round NBA draft pick.
Nearly 20 years later, Zed Key is getting a taste of what the legendary big man went through at Ohio State. In Key’s third season with the Buckeyes, he was named a captain on a roster that featured one other third-year player and four guys in at least their fourth seasons of college basketball. There was an element of experience that surrounded Key and a five-man freshman class.
Not so this year. Of the 13 scholarship players on the roster, two are graduates taking advantage of the extra year afforded to all players who played through the COVID-19 pandemic: Dale Bonner and Jamison Battle, fifth-year transfers from Baylor and Minnesota, respectively. Collectively, Ohio State is tied for the ninth-youngest roster in Division I with an average age of 20.15 years and is the youngest team in the Big Ten.
Key? He’s the most experienced holdover on a team with five second-year players and four freshmen on scholarship. And his teammates let him hear it.
“Every day,” Key told The Dispatch after an Oct. 19 open practice and fan event at Value City Arena. “My teammates remind me every day that I’ve been here for, they say six years. They’re like, ‘You played with Greg Oden.’ I wasn’t even born yet. ‘You was here when Thad Matta was here.’ No.”
A little fudging of the truth goes into that banter (Key was 4 when Oden arrived at Ohio State), but it’s all in good fun for a veteran player now battling to reclaim the role he had earned before a midseason shoulder injury changed the trajectory of the season for both Key and his team. Starting with a Jan. 5 game against Purdue when Key left in the opening minutes clutching his left shoulder, Ohio State lost 14 of 15 games and finished 16-19 to miss out on postseason play.
Key watched the final nine games from the bench after undergoing season-ending surgery that came with a six-month rehab process. Along the way, he dropped 20 pounds and brought a reshaped body with him to the preseason.
“I feel great down here at the weight I’m at,” he said. “I’m glad I lost this weight. I feel more explosive out there. I’m better on defense, offense, I’m in better shape. I’m glad I lost 20 pounds.”
With Key sidelined, freshman Felix Okpara assumed a more significant role and enters 2023-24 as the likely projected starter at center. Both he and Key will play significant minutes on this team, potentially at the same time on occasion, but Key said the only thing he’s concerned about is helping the team win regardless of his role.
It was an answer that made him sound suspiciously like an older person.
“Zed’s had a good approach,” Holtmann said. “His focus has to be, obviously he’s healthy now, getting better, growing as a player, doing whatever his team needs him to do to win and help our team win. If that remains his focus, he’ll be able to do some really good things for us.”
In three seasons at Ohio State, Key has appeared in 85 games and averaged 7.7 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 56.9% from the floor. Prior to the shoulder injury, Key averaged 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, had posted five double-doubles and was shooting 69.8% on two-point field goals through 13 games.
For three years, he’s proven himself to be a steady, reliable contributor as well as an elite offensive rebounder. Maybe that’s why his teammates all think of him as the team’s elder statesman.
“A lot of us are young,” Bruce Thornton, a sophomore, said at Wednesday’s interviews previewing the Nov. 6 season opener against Oakland. “We don’t have a lot of older dudes…”
Then the captain turned his head to the left and indicated Key sitting there, eliciting laughter and an, “I’m not that old, come on,” reply. Thornton continued, citing the youthful on the team helping bring along the older guys and poking just a little more good-natured fun at the fourth-year big man.
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This isn’t necessarily it for Key’s career at Ohio State, either. As a freshman in 2020-21, Key still has an extra year of eligibility that he could use at Ohio State – or elsewhere. What lies beyond the 2023-24 season isn’t something that’s been on Key’s mind.
“I’m not trying to look all the way down the line,” he said. “That’s when you lose track of everything. I’m just trying to stay on point, stay on focus and worry about the next day ahead of me.”
At his exaggerated age, it's probably for the best not to look too far ahead.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Zed Key takes on veteran role yet again for youthful team
