Everyone, please take a deep breath.
College football season is over. Ohio State turned its Michigan despair into a national championship triumph with a College Football Playoff run like none before it. The Buckeyes held their celebration with the city of Columbus on Sunday.
Trophies have been presented. Banners are being hung. Now some attention swings back to basketball for Buckeye fans.
Much like with the football team, Ohio State’s hoopers have been through a litany of peaks and valleys this season, though it’s been a bit more of the latter relative to the football team. The Buckeyes have suffered some incredibly tough losses and looked destined for another January/February collapse like they had under Chris Holtmann the last few seasons in year one of the Jake Diebler era, but got a massive boost of momentum back on Tuesday right after the gridiron gang was crowned national champs.
The Buckeyes are 11-8 on the season and on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament thanks to their tough schedule, with a 3-5 mark in Big Ten play that will need improving.
Where Things Stand
Jake Diebler hugs Ques Glover after Ohio State's win over No. 11 Purdue. (Credit: Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Ohio State’s performance in its first year under Diebler has been confusing. Perhaps that’s expected for a team with a lot of new faces, many of them young faces, under the guidance of a new regime.
The Buckeyes drummed up plenty of excitement to start the season with a victory over then-No. 19 Texas but closed November with a gut-wrenching loss to Pitt, blowing a 12-point second-half lead to lose on an overtime buzzer-beater. Two of Ohio State’s next three games were 34- and 38-point losses to Maryland and No. 1 Auburn.
Then Ohio State waltzed into Madison Square Garden for the CBS Sports Classic and throttled then-No. 4 Kentucky 85-65. Another 20-point win over Indiana State built excitement for full-time conference play in January.
But the Buckeyes got off to another slog of a start in the calendar’s first month. After splitting two contests they lost three consecutive games by two points or less, one a possible résumé booster against then-No. 15 Oregon that Ohio State led for the first 18 minutes of the second half. The last of the three defeats, a home loss to an Indiana team fresh off back-to-back Ls of its own, felt like a must-win but OSU lost another overtime game, 77-76.
That marked a 2-5 start to conference play for the Buckeyes and it felt like an uphill climb to the 15-team Big Ten Basketball Tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament. Then Ohio State handed No. 11 Purdue its first home loss in 696 days thanks to a 16-point second-half comeback.
With three Quad 1 wins in its back pocket and a NET ranking of 29th, Ohio State is currently in the “last four in” section of Bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Despite some tough times, the Buckeyes are well within striking distance of their first Big Dance in three seasons. Now it’s about their pieces rounding into form.
Midseason Roster Outlook
Bruce Thornton anchors Ohio State once more in 2024-25. (Credit: Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images).
Junior point guard Bruce Thornton has remained the boiler that drives Ohio State’s locomotive. Averaging a team-high 17.1 points and 4.3 assists per game, he posted back-to-back 30-point outings against Kentucky and Indiana State. His backcourt help has been shaky, however.
Starting shooting guard Meechie Johnson Jr. has not dribbled a basketball for the Buckeyes since Dec. 14. He’s out addressing a personal matter that Diebler has hinted is family-related. He struggled before his absence, posting almost as many turnovers per game (2.3) as assists (2.7) and shooting just 35.6% from the field, though he was at a career-best 35.7% from 3-point range.
Taking up the mantle in his place has been freshman John Mobley Jr., who’s cooled off from his 7-of-8 3-point shooting start to the campaign to still be at a blistering 43% from downtown. The first-year has taken his lumps, as is to be expected, but dropped a career-high 22 points in the loss to the Hoosiers and has proven a threat to account for on plenty of other occasions.
San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish has started every game at small forward but handled plenty of ball-handling and perimeter defensive duties, posting 11.2 points and a team-high 1.2 steals per game. But without Johnson and an out-for-the-season Taison Chatman, Kansas State transfer Ques Glover is the only true guard coming off Diebler’s bench.
Evan Mahaffey has provided wing reinforcement, collecting 4.5 points per game on an efficient 71.1% from the field with 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and a team-high 1.1 blocks per game. Freshman Colin White has been another wing option when healthy.
Speaking of health and availability, center Aaron Bradshaw took time to round back into form after missing seven games following a university investigation. He’s come off the bench since his return, averaging 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per contest, as Duke transfer forward Sean Stewart has taken up starting duties at the 5. The star of Ohio State’s frontcourt has been Devin Royal, second on the squad with 13.9 points per game and its leading rebounder with 7.3 boards per tilt.
Freshman Croatian center Ivan Njegovan seems to have passed sophomore Austin Parks for playing time off the bench down low, playing 27 minutes combined in the last three games to Parks’ 13. Twenty-four of those came against Wisconsin and Purdue as Royal missed both matchups with injury.
Looking Ahead
Ohio State faces Iowa at 8 p.m. Monday night, a chance at a Quad 2 win for NCAA Tournament purposes. The Hawkeyes stand at 13-7 on the season, so it will be a key contest for the Buckeyes to maintain the juice generated by the beating of the Boilermakers. The nature of the Big Ten is such that the schedule gets no easier from there.
After facing Iowa, Ohio State gets back-to-back road games at Penn State and No. 17 Illinois. When the Buckeyes return home, they face the Maryland team that demolished them earlier in the season. Another ranked foe awaits in mid-February when they face No. 21 Michigan in Value City Arena.
There are a few key areas for the Buckeyes to improve on if they are to get back toward the middle of the pack in the Big Ten and make the NCAA Tournament. They’ve been one of the most foul-prone teams in the country, with opponents making 17.6 free throws per game against them, 11th-most out of the 364 teams in D-I college basketball. They’ve also allowed 11.1 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks 258th nationally. 3-point shooting has been a strength even if there have been cold games, with Ohio State ranked 28th nationally at 37.8% on the season.
It’s going to be an interesting close to Diebler’s first season at the helm of the program.
