Ohio State men’s basketball adds former Duquesne guard, Solon-native Jimmie Williams

Williams brings experience to an Ohio State squad that, as it currently stands, has two freshmen, two sophomores, five juniors, and zero seniors on the roster — Williams would be the first. He is likely ticketed for a reserve role, playing behind Justin Pippen and John Mobley Jr. (assuming he withdraws from the 2026 NBA Draft prior to the deadline). There are suddenly minutes aplenty in the backcourt with Taison Chatman, Gabe Cupps, and Mathieu Grujicic all transferring out of the program in recent weeks. Williams’ commitment makes him the third guard on the Ohio State roster for the 2026-27 season.

With Mobley and Pippen both weighing in below 200 pounds, Williams brings more size to the backcourt at 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds. His rebounding average from last season (4.5) was higher than both Pippen (3.9) and Mobley (2.4), and was just a smidge lower than Ohio State’s starting center last season, Christoph Tilly (4.7).

While his level of competition playing in the A-10 is something to consider, Williams didn’t have many weaknesses offensively last season. He was especially efficient when taking the ball to the basket, shooting 62.4% at the rim (68th percentile nationally) and 60.7% on layups (75th percentile nationally), per Synergy.

Diebler and his staff likely targeted Williams due to that specific skillset and efficiency near the basket, considering Ohio State’s expected starting guards — Mobley and Pippen — have struggled around the basket in their careers thus far. Mobley was 48.1% on layups last season, putting him in the 24th percentile in college basketball, while Pippen was 46% on layups, putting him in the 18th percentile nationally. Opposing teams will be forced to guard Williams in a different manner than they do Mobley and Pippen.

Williams was on campus Thursday, April 16th for an official visit and two days later became Ohio State’s third transfer addition of the spring. The Buckeyes added Pippen and former Kentucky forward Andrija Jelavic on Friday, April 10. Ohio State will likely add three to four more players before the team reports to campus in June.