Ohio State filled a big hole in its roster on Friday with the transfer news of Louisiana guard Cedric Russell. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein was the first to report the news.
A fifth-year senior, Russell comes to Columbus to fill the void left by leading scorer Duane Washington’s decision to opt-out of his senior season at Ohio State and keep his name in the 2021 NBA draft.
At 6-foot, 2-inches, and 190-pounds, Russell led the Ragin’ Cajuns in scoring last season, averaging 17.2 points per contest. He was an All-Sun Belt performer that entered his name in the transfer portal on June 30 and chose the Buckeyes over Oklahoma, Marquette, St. John’s, and Texas Tech.
Russell is a scorer first and foremost and can shoot it from deep, nailing 40 percent of his three-point attempts. In other words, he fits the need for scoring from the guard spot, but we’ll have to see how he fits in a Chris Holtmann scheme that likes to distribute the ball to multiple spots on the floor. He averaged just 1.7 assists per contest and 3.2 rebounds in 33.6 minutes of time on the floor.
This is potentially a huge get for the Buckeyes. Russell has the ability and experience to slot into a starting spot at the guard position immediately and will provide an instant solution to more offense from the perimeter.
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