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Ohio State's Devin Royal to be game-day decision as Appalachian State comes to Columbus
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- Ohio State's Devin Royal to be game-day decision as Appalachian State comes to Columbus
Ohio State junior forward Devin Royal 's status for a Nov. 11 home game against Appalachian State won't be known until that morning.
Buckeyes coach Jake Diebler said Nov. 10 that Royal is feeling "OK" after being limited in a Nov. 7 game against Purdue Fort Wayne with what he said is a hip issue.
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"We're trying to give him some time to recover and see what kind of progress he can make," Diebler said. "I think it's up in the air right now for game day."
After playing 24:41 and scoring 22 points in Ohio State's season-opening win against IU Indy , the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Royal was on the court for only 16:46 against Purdue Fort Wayne. He finished with 6 points and three rebounds and was not on the court to start the second half despite starting the game.
Royal spent the early minutes of the half on the exercise bike before checking in with 14:28 remaining.
"A hip injury is the best way to put it without going into too much detail," Diebler said. "Nothing I don't think anybody is anticipating being long-term, just more he's feeling it. He makes some progress, we have a step back, then we make more progress, then step back. We're trying to get it to a place where he can hopefully turn a corner."
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As a sophomore, Royal averaged 13.7 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds while playing in 31 games with 27 starts. He averaged 28.8 minutes per game in what was a breakout season for the Pickerington Central product.
Without him, Diebler started Indiana transfer guard Gabe Cupps to open the second half against Purdue Fort Wayne. If Royal is unable to go against Appalachian State, it's possible the Buckeyes could go with that three-guard lineup with Cupps alongside Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr. All three guards are listed at 6-foot-2.
Nov 3, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes forward Devin Royal (21) drives against IU Indy Jaguars guard Jaxon Edwards (0) during the second half at Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
"You've seen in the first couple games against teams that have three smaller guards we've played a three-guard lineup," Diebler said. "This opponent's unique because they play two bigs so that gives us some flexibility the other way. We've got to get a chance to practice some of these unique lineups too, and we're going to take some look at that today to see if we can maybe give a chance to play Ivan (Njegovan) and (Christoph) Tilly together at times, or move Amare (Bynum) down a little bit."
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After hosting Appalachian State, Ohio State will play at home against Notre Dame on Nov. 16.
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @ cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @ AdamJardy .
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Devin Royal to be game-day decision for Appalachian State
