Sylvester Recovering From Incident Near Home – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 18, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Jim O’Brien, Ohio State head men’s basketball coach, issued the following statement concerning redshirt freshman Matt Sylvester:
“Matt Sylvester was shot outside a party near his Loveland, Ohio, home Sept. 1 and suffered a minor flesh wound,” O’Brien said. “Matt was with a group of high school friends when a fight broke out. Someone yelled that one of the guys in the fight had a gun and the onlookers scattered into a wooded area.
“The guy did have a gun and started randomly shooting into the woods,” O’Brien said. “Matt ran to his car and the guy shot at the car as Matt attempted to drive away. Matt was struck with a pellet that went through the car door and lodged in his buttocks. He went home and a couple days later went to the hospital and had the pellet removed. Thankfully, it was not much of an injury.
“He is an extremely lucky kid,” O’Brien said. “He is lucky something much worse did not happen. He is only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and using poor judgement about where he was at the time. He was questioned by the police only as a witness to the fight. There were no charges filed against him.
“I have been in contact with Matt and his parents,” O’Brien said. “They called me as soon as this happened. There will be no penalty or disciplinary action taken from our end at Ohio State.”
O’Brien said his players usually don’t come to him with issues he and his coaches have not dealt with before. Situations involving guns are an exception.
“Kids today need to know this is a different day in our society,” O’Brien said. “There was a time when we (coaches) were in their position,” he said. “I am always telling our guys very little of what they do is news to us. The difference is when I was younger, there were no guns.
“That is what scares me,” O’Brien said. “I can’t say to them that I know what they are dealing with. These kids all have to be concerned with guns. And as such, they need to be even more mindful of where they go and who they hang around with.” Sylvester (6-7, 190, Loveland, Ohio/Moeller) appeared in three games last year before lower back pain and a calf injury forced him to miss the final 29 games of his freshman season.
Sylvester, who will still have four years of eligibility, was granted a medical redshirt following the 2001-02 season by the NCAA.
In early August, Sylvester had surgery at the OSU Medical Center to relieve pain associated with a disc herniation. Recovery from that procedure is expected to take about 12 weeks. He is expected to be a contributor this season for the Buckeyes.
