John Mobley Jr. still hasn’t returned to the floor after leaving late in Ohio State’s exhibition win over Butler, and Jake Diebler said Wednesday the Buckeyes are taking a cautious approach with the junior guard.
Mobley went down with 1:30 left in Sunday’s game after trainers checked on him. As he backpedaled, he stepped on Ivan Njegovan’s foot and grabbed at his right ankle when he hit the floor.
“He hasn't been back on the court yet, but we don't anticipate it taking too long,” Diebler said at Ohio State's practice gym. “We're just, for all the obvious reasons, being cautious and hopefully getting back out there sooner rather than later.”
Asked whether Ohio State might be without anyone for Monday’s matchup against No. 25 BYU, Diebler said “not yet.”
“We'll have more clarity, I think, come Friday. We'll have a pretty good feeling what we're looking at, because obviously we've got to start getting our rotations locked in,” Diebler said.
“But as of right now, I don't think we're in a position right now where we're going to say we're going to be missing anybody, but I'm also not in a position to say we're not going to be missing anybody yet. So hopefully we'll have a good feel here in the next couple of days.”
Mobley is coming off a 2025-26 season in which he averaged 15.7 points per game and started 31 games. He explored the NBA draft process before returning to Columbus after getting feedback from professional teams.
He’s expected to be the face of this year’s group and has already earned preseason All-Big Ten recognition.
Mobley has been productive in each of Ohio State’s exhibition tune-ups. He led the Buckeyes with 15 points against Cincinnati, and while no box score was released for the secret scrimmage against Louisville, a source told Eleven Warriors that he played well. Against Butler, he finished second on the team with 17 points, behind Amare Bynum’s 23.
“He's a student of the game. He's got a really high basketball IQ.
He works so hard. He lives in the gym,” Diebler said of Mobley.
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