<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio — Forward Kyle Young announced Friday that he will return to play for a fifth season at Ohio State.</p>
<p>Young said the time he missed late in the season due to concussion issues — including the Buckeyes’ stunning first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Oral Roberts — played into his decision to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility afforded by the NCAA because of COVID-19.</p>
<p>“Just the way I wasn’t able to play, really just wasn’t able to have an impact on the outcome, I just wanted to experience a full year more normal, obviously, than a COVID year,” Young said.</p>
<p>Young suffered two concussions in the last three weeks of the season. He was forced to leave the Big Ten tournament quarterfinal win over Purdue after scoring a career-high 18 points in the first half.</p>
<p> Without him, the second-seeded Buckeyes lost to Michigan in the conference tournament semifinal and then were upset by 15th-seeded Oral Roberts 75-72 in the first round of the national tournament.</p>
<p>“The way everything ended, not being able to play and stuff like that, just wasn’t sitting right with me,” said Young, who was also slowed during the season by a leg injury.</p>
<p>The 6-foot-8 Young finished his fourth season averaging 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Because the Buckeyes were undersized, he often had the responsibility of guarding the opponent’s biggest post player.</p>
<p>Ohio State will have some help with that next season after 6-foot-11 center Joey Brunk announced he was transferring from Indiana.</p>
<p>Young, who is working on a master’s degree, said he also talked to agents about his pro prospects before deciding to return.</p>
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