It’s not that Ohio State has been playing bad basketball recently.
Far from it. The Buckeyes are winners of four of their past six games, even if they’ve lost two of their past three contests. Those were road defeats to Illinois and Nebraska, two teams with a combined 20-5 record at home this year.
Still, there’s another level Jake Diebler and his team want to get to as they return home for a trio of games after playing three of their last four contests in hostile environments. While there’s always improvements to be made across the board, there’s one position Ohio State could use more production from – center.
“I think our collective frontcourt in general has another level to get to and it raises our ceiling tremendously if they can get there,” Diebler said. “I was disappointed last game in our efficiency in the paint, felt like we could have been more efficient. And then our offensive rebounding, with Devin (Royal) not being out there when he was (against Nebraska), not being full strength. We needed someone to step into those roles and we didn't do it well enough.”
The Buckeyes have started Duke transfer Sean Stewart at the 5 position most of the season, and lately he’s rotated with Kentucky transfer Aaron Bradshaw and freshman Ivan Njegovan. That’s both to try to match up with Big Ten bigs and because Stewart and Bradshaw have been in consistent foul trouble.
Stewart took 13 minutes to foul out in Ohio State’s most recent loss to Nebraska and is averaging 3.5 personal fouls in 17.9 minutes per game. Bradshaw fouled out in his third most recent game and averages 2.7 personals in 17.7 minutes.
In Ohio State’s last three games, its centers have averaged more combined fouls (6 per game) than points (4) or rebounds (4.3), shooting 29.4% from the field. Stewart was out for the first of those contests at Illinois and Bradshaw the second against No. 18 Maryland, but the full trio combined to shoot 1-of-8 with seven rebounds and eight fouls at Nebraska.
Diebler sees two top areas he wants his frontcourt to improve: Offensive rebounding and efficiency in the paint. Out of the three men who are playing the 5 regularly for the Buckeyes, none average more than 1.2 offensive boards per game.
“Part of offensive rebounding a lot of times is motor and physicality and stuff,” Diebler said. “But I think in general when we're inefficient in the paint, we're sped up. We're playing too fast. Last night (against Nebraska) for example, when I was talking to those guys, they don't have someone who's going to just go block your shot out of the air. Take your time, play off two feet, you don't need to rush and try to beat someone to the rim because they're not a high shot-blocking team like some other teams we may play.”
It should be noted that each man in Ohio State’s center rotation is inexperienced. Stewart and Bradshaw were five-star prospects out of high school and still have great physical gifts. Njegovan is raw but has upside coming out of the professional leagues of Croatia.
“I think in general when we're inefficient in the paint, we're sped up. We're playing too fast.”– Jake Diebler
Stewart in particular has had great moments as a rebounder and defender this season. He’s averaging 5.9 rebounds per game, second most on the team, and 13.1 boards per 40 minutes make him the most efficient rebounder on the Buckeyes’ roster. He’s added 5.9 points and 0.9 blocks per game. At 6-foot-9 he’s more natural to the power forward position, but Royal’s emergence as a star for the Buckeyes at that spot and inconsistent availability for Bradshaw have seen Stewart play mostly small-ball center this year.
“I think the big thing for him has been foul trouble,” Diebler said of Stewart. “If we can get him to be able to get a little bit more of a rhythm game to game without fouling it'll be helpful. But it's about winning and that's what we're all – like all of us have to be aligned in that. Everybody's got to be focused on that.”
As Diebler referenced above, Bradshaw’s had some difficulty getting experience with the Buckeyes. He missed a month earlier in the season while under university investigation and hasn’t started since his return, only once playing 20 minutes or more in a game. He had 24 combined points against Kentucky and Indiana State right before the start of full-time Big Ten play for the Buckeyes but averaged just 4.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in the 10 contests since.
On the season, Bradshaw has shot 48.8% from the field with 6.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. He missed an open layup during an 0-for-2 night against the Cornhuskers.
“What I love about Aaron, he plays really hard. Like, he's out there, he's playing really, really hard,” Diebler said. “Again, got to slow down a little bit. I think some of his shot selection at times (isn’t good), because he's playing sped up. And he's got to be a great rim threat for us. And then I want him, when he's got time and space, I want him to look to be a threat for us on the perimeter.”
Njegovan’s seen his minutes increase since the calendar turned to 2025 but on the season averages just 6.5 per game, posting 1.9 points and 1.6 rebounds in that time. Even he’s shown flashes of defensive and rebounding prowess for such a developmental piece, collecting six boards and swatting a shot in Ohio State’s 83-64 win at Penn State.
“I think the encouraging thing is we've shown an ability – I want to say we, that kind of collective unit – we've shown an ability to do it,” Diebler said of his frontcourt. “That consistency is (key), we need that consistency now.”
“We've shown an ability to do it. That consistency is (key), we need that consistency now.”– Jake Diebler on the production of his frontcourt
It will also help if the trio can stay healthy and on the floor. There’s no better way to improve than game reps.
“I don't really believe in excuses necessarily, but there's a reality for – in defense of those guys – there's a reality to, when you don't get significant time consecutively, it slows down your growth,” Diebler said. “I think that's just natural. And we saw it, like Sean missed almost an entire summer and part of a fall and Aaron was out for a significant stretch and then, you know, it's little things. Like, Aaron hasn't been able to practice two days in a row for a stretch and now we finally, hopefully, we can get a couple days going into the next game.”
Ohio State’s bigs get their next test against Washington on Wednesday, which features a talented 6-foot-8 forward in Great Osobor who averages 15.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
“Washington is playing really well,” Diebler said. “Another really good big man. One of the better big men in the league. And they got size. So, we need those guys to play well. But I want them to play with confidence too. I think that's part of it.”
