With fall classes just a week away, Ohio State still has one roster spot to play with for the 2026-27 men’s basketball season. And the name hovering over that opening is a familiar one: Christoph Tilly.
The former Buckeye center is rumored to be a candidate for that final spot, and a source close to the program confirmed to Land-Grant Holy Land that Ohio State is “considering” using it on him. Nothing is finalized yet, but the possibility is real as the calendar moves toward the start of the semester.
Tilly’s path back into the picture opened up after a July 31 injunction from U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Denver, Colorado.
That ruling gave players from the class of 2022 - last year’s seniors - one more year of eligibility, at least for now. It came after the NCAA’s new “5 for 5” rule, which gives college athletes five years to play five seasons, but did not originally include that group.
Tilly had already entered the transfer portal in April just in case something like this happened, and now he is eligible for one more season.
If Ohio State does bring him back, the immediate upside is obvious. Center is the biggest question mark on the roster, and Tilly would walk in as the most proven option at the position. Last season, the 7-footer averaged 11 points, 4.7 rebounds, and a career-high 2.3 assists per game while starting 32 of Ohio State’s 34 games.
Without him, the Buckeyes are looking at Ivan Njegovan or Josh Ojianwuna to start in November. Njegovan took a step this summer, but last season as a sophomore he averaged only 2.6 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Ojianwuna, a Baylor transfer, has appeared in 87 career games and owns a career shooting percentage of 70.4%, but he has not played in a collegiate game since February 2025. He spent all of last season rehabbing knee surgery with Ohio State and is expected to battle Njegovan for the starting job.
The numbers make the gap pretty clear. Tilly has played 118 career games, nearly as many as Njegovan and Ojianwuna combined, and his 1,140 career points are almost double their combined total of 576. If he returns, Ohio State instantly gets a starting-caliber center to anchor what looks like the weakest spot on the roster.
There’s more to his value than scoring, too. Tilly finished third on the team with 74 assists last season, and he became the first Ohio State center since Kaleb Wesson in 2019-20 to record at least 60 assists in a season.
Right now, none of the Buckeyes’ other center options bring that kind of passing ability. Njegovan, Ojianwuna, and Kentucky transfer Andrija Jelavic combined for 56 assists in their most recent seasons, using Ojianwuna’s 2024-25 numbers as the latest available season for him.
Tilly also gave Ohio State something it does not get from its other bigs: a center who can handle the ball well enough to help break pressure and make the right read. Jake Diebler trusted him in that role last season, and that sort of skill set stands out on this roster.
Still, the fit isn’t simple.
The biggest complication is the legal one. Nobody knows how the class of 2022 ruling will hold up.
Right now those players are eligible, but only because of a judge’s order. The NCAA could appeal, the case could go back to court, and the status of that group could change again before the season even starts - or even during it.
If Ohio State has other ways to fill the final roster spot, it has to decide whether it wants to use it on a player whose eligibility could still be challenged.
There’s also the matter of the players already in the building. Adding Tilly now would alter the minutes picture in a major way.
Ojianwuna spent more than a year rehabbing a torn ACL and did not come to Ohio State, grind through physical therapy for 18 months, and get fully cleared just to become a spot-duty backup. Njegovan would also be pushed further down the chart if Tilly returned after backing him up last season.
And unlike Tilly, Njegovan and Ojianwuna have been with the program all summer. They practiced with the team, went on the international trip to Puerto Rico, and worked with new strength and conditioning coach Dave Richardson.
Ohio State’s practice shirts say “Winning Over Everything,” but there is still something to be said for the players who have already put in the work over the summer. Bringing Tilly back this late would shake up the rotation, and the staff may decide it does not want to upset that balance.
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