Ohio State Buckeyes Suffer Brutal Transfer Portal News

The Ohio State Buckeyes have been slammed with some brutal news in the NCAA transfer portal.

Ohio State Buckeyes guard Meechie Johnson Jr. (1) shoots over Campbell Fighting Camels forward Eric Van Der Heijden (23) during the second half of the NCAA men's basketball game at Value City Arena in Columbus on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. Ohio State won 104-60. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Ohio State Buckeyes just completed a very disappointing 2024-25 campaign, finishing 17-15 and missing the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. That marks Ohio State's longest drought in two decades.

To make matters worse, the Buckeyes have just lost one of their top players to the transfer portal, as guard Meechie Johnson Jr. has decided to depart Columbus, via Joe Tipton of On 3.

Johnson has certainly had an interesting experience at Ohio State, as he initially joined the Buckeyes in 2020 and spent two seasons with the team before transferring to South Carolina following the 2021-22 campaign.

Then, after spending a couple of years with the Gamecocks, Johnson returned to Columbus this past season, but played just 10 games before taking a leave of absence due to personal reasons in December. He never got back on the floor.

During the time he did play this year, Johnson averaged 9.1 points, 2.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals over 28.8 minutes per game on 35.6/35.7/50.0 shooting splits.

While the 22-year-old certainly wasn't the most efficient scorer in the world this past season (or throughout his collegiate career in general), there is no question that Ohio State missed him for the final few months of the regular season.

Johnson logged double figures in each of his two campaigns at South Carolina, topping out at 14.1 points per game in 2023-24. He owns a lifetime average of 9.2 points a night on 37.0/33.1/74.2 shooting splits.

We'll see if the Buckeyes can answer by adding some pieces in the transfer portal themselves.

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