It was the first game of the season they didn't start Mobley. You act like missing one of your leading scorers is no big deal, but OSU refused to put competitive NIL resources into building up this roster, so it's a huge deal.
On Mobley, yes he might have contributed or he might have scored about 3 points as he did against Pitt or Washington. He probably would have taken some of Thornton's 28 pts, so that could have been a wash. But he wouldn't have made much difference in the rebounding deficit, which was 14! They outrebounded OSU 40 - 26. If you saw the game you saw our guys lose rebounds they should have had, not be in position for rebounds, etc...
E.g., two Buckeyes under the basket, boxing out a UVA player who jumps over them and swats it to his teammate. Our guys didn't bother to jump or even raise their arms for the ball. Another one, ball is bouncing under the basket, our two guys stand there and let the UVA guy pick it up, *then* Tilly decides to do something, ties it up, possession arrow to UVA. Other plays where OSU is nowhere near in position. Buckeyes have the size to be better than 103rd in rebounding. UVA is 12th in rebounding because of good coaching and mentality (from good coaching).
It is obvious OSU does not run a well-coached offense even with Mobley. This is in contrast to their opponents that have seasoned coaches that know what they are doing. Game on the line, under a minute to go, it's Tilly for the 3. Da fuq? With Bynum and Thornton on the court? That's bad coaching. That's why we can't win these close ones.