The center out of Michigan is the first player to announce their intent to join the portal in the 2025 Ohio State offseason
The offseason started for Ohio State women’s basketball Sunday night after an 82-67 defeat to the Tennessee Volunteers. Less than 24 hours later and the Buckeyes have their first player join the transfer portal when sophomore center Faith Carson announced on Instagram their potential move out of Ohio State.
Carson joined the Scarlet and Gray out of Buchanan, Michigan, a town 17 miles north of South Bend, Indiana, on the Southwest corner of Michigan.
In seven games, Carson scored four points with eight rebounds. Carson’s first game accounted for two of those points and half of the rebounds when the then freshman played three minutes against IUPUI on Nov. 12, 2023.
The 6-foot-4 center did not win a spot in the usual rotation in her first season behind starting forward Rebeka Mikulášiková, with Taiyier Parks and Eboni Walker coming in for Mikulášiková. That meant Carson only played in games where Ohio State amassed big leads over their opponents.
Head coach Kevin McGuff put Carson, junior guard Kaia Henderson and freshmen forwards Seini Henry and Ella Hobbs into an inevitable redshirt season when McGuff ruled them out every game of the season. In NCAA women’s college basketball, players cannot play any minutes and still earn a redshirt season, unless there is an injury involved.
That redshirt year gives Carson three years of eligibility for the Michigan 2023 Division III Player of the Year, and No. 1 ranked Michigan recruit for four consecutive seasons. Carson also lettered in volleyball in her time in high school.
This season, Ohio State brought in forward Ajae Petty, had one more season of Walker’s services and 6-foot-6 freshman Elsa Lemmilä picked up the other minutes in the post for the Buckeyes.