2024-2025 Ohio State Men's Basketball

[ScriptOhio]

January 5, 2023 7:00 p.m., FS1	No. 24	No. 1 Purdue	L 69–71	10–4 (2–1)	21 – Sensabaugh	5 – Tied	3 – Thornton	Value City Arena (17,227) Columbus, OH
January 8, 2023 1:00 p.m., ESPN	No. 24	at Maryland	L 73–80	10–5 (2–2)	22 – Sensabaugh	7 – Sensabaugh	4 – Likekele	Xfinity Center (12,497) College Park, MD
January 12, 2023 6:30 p.m., FS1	Minnesota	L 67–70	10–6 (2–3)	18 – Sensabaugh	10 – Sensabaugh	2 – Tied	Value City Arena (11,202) Columbus, OH
January 15, 2023 2:15 p.m., BTN	at Rutgers	L 64–68 OT	10–7 (2–4)	20 – Sensabaugh	11 – Sensabaugh	2 – Sueing	Jersey Mike's Arena (8,000) Piscataway, NJ
January 18, 2023 7:00 p.m., BTN	at Nebraska	L 60–63	10–8 (2–5)	18 – Sensabaugh	10 – Tied	4 – Sueing	Pinnacle Bank Arena (12,918) Lincoln, NE
January 21, 2023 2:00 p.m., FOX	Iowa	W 93–77	11–8 (3–5)	27 – Sensabaugh	10 – Likekele	7 – Likekele	Value City Arena (13,630) Columbus, OH
January 24, 2023 7:00 p.m., ESPN	at Illinois	L 60–69	11–9 (3–6)	14 – Sensabaugh	5 – Tied	3 – McNeil	State Farm Center (15,544) Champaign, IL
January 28, 2023 8:00 p.m., FOX	at Indiana	L 70–86	11–10 (3–7)	23 – Sensabaugh	6 – Sensabaugh	3 – Tied	Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222) Bloomington, IN
February 2, 2023 7:00 p.m., FS1	Wisconsin	L 60–65	11–11 (3–8)	13 – Sensabaugh	11 – Sueing	4 – Likekele	Value City Arena (11,918) Columbus, OH
February 5, 2023 1:00 p.m., CBS	at Michigan Rivalry	L 69–77	11–12 (3–9)	22 – Thornton	9 – Sensabaugh	2 – Tied	Crisler Center (12,707) Ann Arbor, MI
February 9, 2023 8:00 p.m., FS1	Northwestern	L 63–69	11–13 (3–10)	19 – Sueing	10 – Key	3 – Thornton	Value City Arena (12,305) Columbus, OH
February 12, 2023 1:00 p.m., CBS	Michigan State	L 41–62	11–14 (3–11)	10 – McNeil	8 – Key	2 – Tied	Value City Arena (15,110) Columbus, OH
February 16, 2023 9:00 p.m., ESPN2	at Iowa	L 75–92	11–15 (3–12)	20 – McNeil	4 – Sueing	4 – Likekele	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (13,257) Iowa City, IA
February 19, 2023 1:00 p.m., CBS	at No. 3 Purdue	L 55–82	11–16 (3–13)	20 – Sensabaugh	5 – Sensabaugh	2 – Sensabaugh	Mackey Arena (14,876) West Lafayette, IN
February 23, 2023 6:30 p.m., FS1	Penn State	L 71–75	11–17 (3–14)	20 – Sensabaugh	10 – Sueing	4 – Tied	Value City Arena (11,996) Columbus, OH

January 6, 2024 8:00 p.m., FOX	at Indiana	L 65–71	12–3 (2–2)	17 – Battle	15 – Okpara	5 – Thornton	Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (16,584) Bloomington, IN
January 10, 2024 8:30 p.m., BTN	No. 15 Wisconsin	L 60–71	12–4 (2–3)	18 – Battle	8 – Battle	6 – Thornton	Value City Arena (11,276) Columbus, OH
January 15, 2024 12:00 p.m., FOX	at Michigan Rivalry	L 65–73	12–5 (2–4)	19 – Thornton	9 – Okpara	3 – Bonner	Crisler Center (12,202) Ann Arbor, MI
January 20, 2024 12:00 p.m., BTN	Penn State	W 79–67	13–5 (3–4)	16 – Mahaffey	14 – Okpara	6 – Thornton	Value City Arena (15,267) Columbus, OH
January 23, 2024 7:00 p.m., Peacock	at Nebraska	L 69–83	13–6 (3–5)	16 – Thornton	7 – Battle	6 – Thornton	Pinnacle Bank Arena (14,408) Lincoln, NE
January 27, 2024 8:30 p.m., BTN	at Northwestern	L 58–83	13–7 (3–6)	18 – Thornton	5 – Okpara	3 – Gayle, Jr.	Welsh–Ryan Arena (6,218) Evanston, IL
January 30, 2024 7:00 p.m., Peacock	No. 14 Illinois	L 75–87	13–8 (3–7)	21 – Battle	6 – Battle	4 – Thornton	Value City Arena (10,285) Columbus, OH
February 2, 2024 7:00 p.m., FS1	at Iowa	L 77–79	13–9 (3–8)	17 – Battle	8 – Okpara	4 – Mahaffey	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (9,986) Iowa City, IA
February 6, 2024 7:00 p.m., Peacock	Indiana	L 73–76	13–10 (3–9)	19 – 2 tied	6 – Mahaffey	4 – Gayle, Jr.	Value City Arena (11,157) Columbus, OH
February 10, 2024 4:00 p.m., FS1	Maryland	W 79–75 2OT	14–10 (4–9)	24 – Thornton	7 – 2 tied	4 – Thornton	Value City Arena (13,471) Columbus, OH
February 13, 2024 9:00 p.m., Peacock	at No. 20 Wisconsin	L 54–62	14–11 (4–10)	18 – Thornton	6 – Mahaffey	5 – Thornton	Kohl Center (14,931) Madison, WI
February 18, 2024 1:00 p.m., CBS	No. 2 Purdue	W 73–69	15–11 (5–10)	22 – Thornton	4 – 2 tied	3 – Gayle	Value City Arena (18,353) Columbus, OH
February 22, 2024 8:00 p.m., BTN	at Minnesota	L 79–88	15–12 (5–11)	25 – Thornton	7 – Mahaffey	6 – Thornton	Williams Arena (8,558) Minneapolis, MN

Just sayin': I just hope he has the team playing up to their potential during January and February; thus avoiding the losing streaks that happened under Holtzmann.

 

[ScriptOhio]

College basketball transfer portal roundtable: The biggest concern for top programs after spring closure​

Insiders from the nation's best teams revealed their biggest Achilles' heel.​

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES ​

Biggest Concern: 3-Point Shooting

Sharp-shooter Jamison Battle exhausted his eligibility, leaving Ohio State with few proven shooters for next season. The Buckeyes added Meechie Johnson from South Carolina in the transfer portal, but still need more pieces.

"Ohio State still needs a reliable 3-point-shooting wing," Bucknuts' Patrick Murphy told us. "The Buckeyes lost arguably the best 3-point shooter in the Big Ten when Jamison Battle left. While they added Meechie Johnson and his 32.4% 3-point shooting at South Carolina the last two seasons, Ohio State needs another threat from the outside to be truly dangerous. Ideally, this would be a player who is also a capable perimeter defender."

 

[DZ83CK]

Outgoing transfers
Freshman Scotty Middleton (6-7) to Seton Hall
Sophomores Roddy Gayle Jr. (6-4) to scUM
Sophomore Bowen Hardman (6-3) to Akron
Sophomore Felix Okpara (6-11) to Tennessee
Senior Zed Key (6-8) to Dayton

Incoming transfers:
Seniors (2): G Meechie Johnson (6-2), G Micah Parrish (6-6)
Sophomores (2): C Aaron Bradshaw (7-1), F Sean Stewart (6-9)
1 more available scholarship: ?

I'll say with the potential (i.e. 5 star, McDonald's AA) of Bradshaw and Stewart, Ohio State is winning the battle of the transfer portal. They should be a definite upgrade over Okpara and Key.

I don't think they are finished adding just yet, one more spot is open and I am guessing they will get another big man to help with the rotation in the post. Right now the only big with center weight they have is Parks, and he barely played last season. Overall, it seems like it's kind of a wash between what they are losing and what they are adding talent-wise, but the potential is there for it to be an upgrade.

Certainly it seems like they upgraded from Key physically & athletically, but he does have real basketball skills, and the transfers they are adding are going to actually have to produce (and not foul out or be on the bench). My guess is Stewart is the Zed Key replacement, and while there are trade-offs there, I don't mind the swap. I think Stewart has more versatility to play the 4 and 5, but he is gonna have to show some shooting ability to help space the floor. Okpara has his strengths (shotblocking & finishing at the rim). Bradshaw isn't the shotblocker like Okpara but probably is an equal rebounder and a better finisher, plus gets to the foul line more. Overall, I am guessing Bradshaw will have a slightly better season due to higher production offensively. Diebler clearly is counting on being able to coach Stewart and Bradshaw to not reach in and commit fouls that put them in trouble and on the bench. As long as those guys can limit the fouls and hang in there, I think they will both have good roles and produce well enough to more than offset losing Okpara and Key and probably make this team a bit better.

Middleton, I'm not worried about losing him - yes, his 3-point shooting was excellent, but I don't think he was particularly productive and I didn't see much to his game other than shooting & running the floor. Parrish you would think based on the stats will be a downgrade from Middleton in terms of 3-point shooting, but I believe his overall game will be much better next season in comparison. The only issue is if you ask Parrish to start, he's not been a guy who consistently scores double-digits, so other guys are going to have to be scoring.

Losing Roddy Gayle and sort of replacing him with Meechie Johnson, that is not a direct comparison but more of an overall impact discussion. I would give Gayle the edge because of his varied production, defense and consistency, and while Meechie has bigger scoring bursts he has some games without much scoring.

Yes, the big loss right now looks like Jamison Battle. They will probably need someone to emerge as a go-to guy offensively, as having 2 double-digit scorers with Bruce and Meechie might not be enough. Perhaps Bradshaw will be a reliable scorer, but he's got to be out there long enough. I believe they are looking to Colin White to bring some of those same elements that Jamison Battle had, he definitely has a poise and polish to his game & he could be that SF shooting threat. Mobley looks like another very good shooter, and he seems to be really coming on at the right time heading into college. I think both of those freshmen look like guys who could make the rotation. Diebler is wants a team that plays up-tempo & runs the floor, and will want to play a deep bench for sure.

 

[DZ83CK]

While Colin White is a freshman, he could be a real player. I don't think completely overlooking Ohio Mr. Basketball and assuming he won't be able to shoot is entirely fair. Yes, most freshmen struggle shooting the 3, and Battle was elite at it. Parrish, I think he'll be fine shooting the 3. It's a downgrade, but I wouldn't say that OSU really needs a 3-point shooting wing at this point. What worries me is having a big to bang against guys who are 250# or 260#.

College basketball transfer portal roundtable: The biggest concern for top programs after spring closure​

Insiders from the nation's best teams revealed their biggest Achilles' heel.​

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES ​

Biggest Concern: 3-Point Shooting

Sharp-shooter Jamison Battle exhausted his eligibility, leaving Ohio State with few proven shooters for next season. The Buckeyes added Meechie Johnson from South Carolina in the transfer portal, but still need more pieces.

"Ohio State still needs a reliable 3-point-shooting wing," Bucknuts' Patrick Murphy told us. "The Buckeyes lost arguably the best 3-point shooter in the Big Ten when Jamison Battle left. While they added Meechie Johnson and his 32.4% 3-point shooting at South Carolina the last two seasons, Ohio State needs another threat from the outside to be truly dangerous. Ideally, this would be a player who is also a capable perimeter defender."

 

[calibuck]

Zed could bang, but losing all that weight, had gotten him pushed out in the hole. Okpara was more of a fringe big, picking his path to the basket. His alley-oop buckets were fantastic, but out-muscling folk for boards, not-so-much. The new guy, what 215 dripping wet, is going gonna have to get some meat on dem bones quickly, or get pushed into the stands. Not sure how/where Park fits in, been two years now. But with both Okpara and Zed going portal, only alternative is for the new PF moving to C. And either Diebs going small with another 6'6" playing low, or putting Park in, and having the PF crash as well. Feel like this team could be stronger than last year, but is a tad weaker at scoring. Guess we'll see how well Diebs plays his pieces on the floor. Go Bucks!

 

[ScriptOhio]

MOVING ON UP. Buckeye Nation should expect the Ohio State men’s basketball team to be ranked in the top 25 at the start of next season. That’s what Jeff Borzello of ESPN believes, at least. In an updated release of his preseason top 25, Borzello placed the Buckeyes at No. 21 behind Texas and ahead of Xavier…

… Remember when Sean Miller was a candidate to become Ohio State’s head coach?

Wild times.

Under Jake Diebler, the man Ohio State chose over Miller, Dusty May and some other notable names, Borzello wrote that the Buckeyes “lost a lot to the portal but landed their fair share of transfers” before mentioning Meechie Johnson, Micah Parrish, Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart. Borzello believes all four players will insert themselves into the starting five with Bruce Thornton, whom Diebler called “a player you want to build around” in an interview with Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports last week.

A lineup of Thornton, Johnson, Parrish, Stewart and Bradshaw offers “tremendous upside,” Borzello wrote. It also creates a deep bench with the likes of Evan Mahaffey, Devin Royal, Taison Chatman, Austin Parks, Juni Mobley, Colin White and a transfer to be added later.

All of that said, No. 21 (or somewhere in the 20s) feels appropriate for Ohio State entering 2024-25. After back-to-back years where the Buckeyes spent most of the season outside the top 25, that would already be a massive improvement. But that’s also no reason to celebrate. The roster with “tremendous upside” will still have to go out there and win games, and that won’t come easy for an unproven coach with an unproven roster — especially once the Big Ten schedule begins.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Way-too-early Big Ten power rankings after heated transfer portal arms race

The dust has (mostly) settled in the transfer portal. Who has emerged at the top of the new-look Big Ten pecking order?

247sports.com

Way-too-early Big Ten power rankings after heated transfer portal arms race​

The dust has (mostly) settled in the transfer portal. Who has emerged at the top of the new-look Big Ten pecking order?​

10. OHIO STATE​

(Photo: Getty)
Projected starting lineup:

• G Bruce Thornton Jr.
• G Meechie Johnson
• Wing Micah Parrish
• F Devin Royal
• C Aaron Bradshaw

Top bench options: F Sean Stewart, G Juni Mobley, F Evan Mahaffey
The scoop: Ohio State will go as far as its backcourt takes it. Thornton (a regular) and Johnson (a boomerang) have to be the engines of Jake Diebler's squad. Former five-star big men like Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart are looking to get their careers back on track in Columbus. Those were strong additions, but Ohio State certainly needs more pop from its wings to ease the every-play burden that Thornton and Johnson could have. Mismatch-hunting forward Devin Royal will be a huge breakout candidate.

 

[Bestbuck36]

10th my ass. I actually have quite a bit of optimism for this season. I'm saying top 7 at least. Go Bucks!

 

[ScriptOhio]

In case you missed it too, I did:

Ohio State men's basketball adds walk-on from nearby New Albany

Ohio State men's basketball adds walk-on from New Albany in guard Braylen Nash.

247sports.com

Ohio State men's basketball adds walk-on from New Albany in guard Braylen Nash.​

The 6-4 Nash helped New Albany post a 20-5 record overall and win the Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division championship. He was the OCC Ohio Player of the Year as he averaged 17.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He was a Division I All-Ohio special mention selection as well as he played for veteran head coach Tim Casey.

 

[DZ83CK]

10th my ass. I actually have quite a bit of optimism for this season. I'm saying top 7 at least. Go Bucks!

Kinda whacky, but 10th place is actually the middle of the pack in the Big Ten nowadays.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Jake Diebler Excited by Diverse Experiences, Winning Backgrounds in First-Ever Assistant Coaching Staff

Jake Diebler expressed immense excitement about the winning backgrounds and complementary nature of his first assistant coaching staff.

www.elevenwarriors.com

JAKE DIEBLER EXCITED BY DIVERSE EXPERIENCES, WINNING BACKGROUNDS IN FIRST-EVER ASSISTANT COACHING STAFF​

There’s often plenty of sunshine-pumping to be done in the offseason about a given sports team, especially one that brings in a new head coach after a disappointing handful of seasons.

Jake Diebler’s taken real steps to feed the hype for what the Ohio State basketball program could look like under his guidance, namely the addition of five-star talents and established veterans in the transfer portal.

More subtly, Diebler’s complete overhaul of the Buckeyes’ assistant coaching staff has brought a fresh infusion of juice into the team. What’s been assembled is a diverse array of experience containing plenty of winning pedigree.

“I'm really, really excited. I can't even tell you how excited I am about this staff. There's already a natural chemistry that's been forming and it's been good to see,” Diebler said on Monday.

Perhaps no coach hired by Diebler has had a more eye-popping run of recent experience than newly-minted associate head coach Joel Justus.

Following a seven-year stint under John Calipari at Kentucky, Justus spent a year at Arizona State before his last two years were spent with NC State. The Wolfpack went on a Cinderella run to the Final Four as an 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament this year. In 2022-23, Justus helped mold the team’s offense to No. 2 in scoring in the ACC with 77.7 points per game.

Justus is also a proven recruiter, helping acquire a multitude of stars while with the Wildcats like Bam Adebayo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Immanuel Quickley. He made both ESPN and The Athletic’s 40 under 40 lists in 2020.

“Joel is someone I have known for a while and I’m excited to have him join our staff,” Diebler said in a statement when Justus was hired in April.

“He is a well-rounded coach with great experience in the development and recruiting spaces, while winning everywhere he’s been. His vision for building a program and developing a winning culture is something I was looking for and I can’t wait for him to get started.”
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[calibuck]

The new tOSU AD, Bjork (sp?), could have played it safe, and hired an old established coach (you can recite the names better than I can), but did not. Going with Diebs is a risk, but maybe a measured one? The players that fled via portal kinda surprised me, but on paper at least, Diebs has replaced (actually upgraded) player personnel for the Buckeyes. Guess we'll have to play the hand we've got, and see how it goes. Am excited to see the 2024-5 addition of the basketball Bucks - both men and women, in action. If I were one of the new Buckeyes, and coach came to me and said "you've gotta shoot more", I'd be keeping an intern up late rebounding for me at the Schott. Hope these guys are thinking the same. Why don't you guys in C'bus work on legislature to change/modify the rule against nepotism, to allow Deibs to hire his brother as an assistant coach.
Go Bucks!

 

[brodybuck21]

 

[Bestbuck36]

We get the UK players and then play UK. LOL

 

[ScriptOhio]

Burning Question: How good is the Ohio State men’s basketball backcourt?

With the addition of Meechie Johnson, can this Ohio State backcourt be the best in the conference?

www.landgrantholyland.com

Burning Question: How good is the Ohio State men’s basketball backcourt?​

With the addition of Meechie Johnson, can this Ohio State backcourt be the best in the conference?

When it comes to the Ohio State men’s basketball program, there are a lot of question marks right now. How will Jake Diebler adapt to being the head guy for a full season? What is his staff like, and will they all work well? How will the transfers mesh with the returning players? What impact will Juni Mobley and Colin White have?

However, there is one question that I think is more positive, and the answer could be that the backcourt of junior point guard Bruce Thornton and senior shooting guard Meechie Johnson propel this team back to the NCAA Tournament and to a successful season.

Johnson returns to Ohio State after spending his first two seasons in Columbus and transferring to South Carolina for two seasons. The fifth-year senior joins Thornton in the backcourt, and the two will be the workhorses for the Buckeyes this upcoming season.

Thornton has started all 70 games of his Buckeye career thus far, averaging 13.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He shot 43.9 percent from the field, 35 percent from three-point range, and 81.2 percent from the free-throw line. Last year, Thornton averaged 15.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.8 assists per contest. His shooting splits were a little down — 42.7 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three-point range, and 85 percent from the free-throw line.

He has averaged 32.1 minutes per game in his two years in Columbus. and was voted All-Big Ten and All-Big Ten Tournament last season.

Johnson averages 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in his career. He shoots 37.1 percent from the field, 32.8 percent from three-point range, and 75.8 percent from the free throw line. Johnson’s best year was last season, when he averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. His shooting splits were 39.9 percent from the field, 32.1 percent from three-point range, and 78.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Johnson has played 106 games in college, starting in 67 of them. He played in 43 games for Ohio State in two seasons and 63 games for South Carolina in two seasons. Johnson was named All-SEC last season.

This is the most experienced backcourt the Buckeyes have had in a long time, and both are poised to become 1,000-point scorers this season. Thornton has a chance to challenge for Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer if he starts 70 more games over the next two seasons.
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