Even though it’s football season, college basketball is just around the corner, with the Buckeyes tipping off on Nov. 3. There were a lot of roster changes for Ohio State heading into the 2025-26 season, and over the next couple of months we will be dropping one player preview per week to get you caught up on the current roster.
The Josh Ojianwuna File
Name: Josh Ojianwuna
Position: Forward
Class: Senior
High School/Former School: NBA Global Academy/Baylor
Hometown: Asaba, Nigeria
Height: 6-foot-10
Weight: 230
Breakdown
Ojianwuna was
a solid rotation player for Baylor, playing in 87 games and making 24 starts over three seasons at Baylor. In his Baylor career, he averaged 5.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and shot over 70 percent from the floor at Baylor.
Ojianwuna had 17 games that he scored in double digits, and finished with four career double-doubles. As a junior last season, he posted all career-highs of 7.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 77 percent from the field.
Unfortunately, he suffered a season ending knee injury in February and missed the final 12 games of the season. Ojianwuna is currently rehabbing that injury, and hopes to be back in time for next season.
In high school, Ojianwuna attended NBA Academy Africa in 2017 before transitioning to NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia in 2019, turning into a Top 100 recruit in the 2022 class, according the 247Sports.
Ojianwuna grew up playing soccer in Nigeria.
Expected Role
The role for Ojianwuna will start with the simple question of if he can play or not. He suffered a serious knee injury in February and may not be ready to play this season. If not, he will medically redshirt and come back for the 2026-27 season, and likely be in line to be the starting center since Christoph Tilly is a senior this year.
In an interview with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, head coach Jake Diebler said that the Buckeyes are moving as though Ojianwuna will be back in time for the start of the season in November.
“Yeah, until we’re given information that he won’t be (available), we’ll keep moving forward to that,” Diebler said. “He’s watching everything from the side right now, learning our terminology. You know, we’re doing some different things offensively so everybody’s got to be paying close attention. And he’s been great. He’s been great.”
“I think only time will tell, you know. It’s a situation – he’s got a bright basketball future so we can’t rush him, you know. We’ve got to make sure that he’s ready before he steps out on the court. We’ll continue to evaluate him. We won’t have more information on that until well into fall camp.”
If he is ready to play this season, he will be the backup center to Tilly and likely play around 14-18 minutes a game, a spot that he has shown to be productive in. It will be a huge upgrade for the Buckeyes, since the backup center spot is one they have struggled with for many years now.
That said, it is a big if as of right now, and a situation to closely monitor as the season approaches.
