Star Ohio State Point Guard Bruce Thornton Returns Home for Measuring Stick Matchup With No. 2 Auburn
By
Andy Anders on December 13, 2024 at 10:10 am
@andyanders55
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Ohio State’s neutral site game with No. 2 Auburn will be played on familiar soil for Bruce Thornton.
For the second time in his Buckeye career, the star point guard returns home for a game. Thornton grew up a quick 40-minute drive from Atlanta, where Saturday's matchup occurs, in Alpharetta, Georgia, and he’ll get his chance to show out before a smattering of familiar faces in the crowd. But for the team’s sake, as usual, he remains even-keeled.
“I expect him to play well,” Jake Diebler said on Thursday. “Whether we're in Atlanta or Columbus or really anywhere, I expect him to play well. I don't anticipate him treating this game any different. I think the biggest thing is he'll get to see some more family and some more friends, potentially, before and after. But he's so mature. His approach is consistent no matter what. It doesn't matter if we're going into an exhibition game or we're going into a game in Atlanta. I think his approach has always been the same.”
Now that the Buckeyes have stabilized their season with an
80-66 win over Rutgers on Dec. 7 that followed back-to-back losses, they’ll need all they can get from Thornton as Diebler’s first Ohio State squad gets a measuring stick game to see how it stack up against one of the best teams in the country. The Tigers will get the Buckeyes' best – Diebler, Thornton and company have had a full week to prepare.
“Auburn's a really good team, arguably the best team in the country right now,” Diebler said. “We wanted to certainly not wait until today to start focusing in on them. But there were some things coming out of the last couple of games for us to get to where we want to go. We needed to spend some time working on that. That maybe wasn't solely focused on how it could impact the game on Saturday.”
Thornton’s first trip back to Atlanta in a Scarlet and Gray jersey was a mixed bag.
Ohio State traveled to the Peach State’s capital to play UCLA in State Farm Arena on Dec. 16, 2023, the same venue as its game with Auburn this Saturday and home to the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. The Buckeyes came away with a 67-60 win in a tilt neither team led by two or more scores until the final three minutes. Thornton collected 13 points, but he did so on just 4-of-15 shooting.
“I don't know necessarily that last year being in Atlanta was the reason he struggled in the first half, if I remember correctly,” Diebler said. “It felt like everybody struggled in the first half of that one.”
Captains still haven’t been announced by the Buckeyes, but Diebler said on Thursday that it’s safe to pencil in Thornton’s name as one of them. That will make him a three-time captain in three seasons in Columbus, Ohio State’s offensive maestro proving a leader on and off the court.
“Make no mistake, Bruce is our leader,” Diebler said. “This will put him, I guess, a three-time captain so far. which speaks a lot about who he is. But his leadership isn't the only one that's important for us. We've relied on other guys to help us in that regard.”
Bruce Thornton gets to play before hometown friends and family for the second time in his career as the Buckeyes prepare for a measuring-stick game against No. 2 Auburn.
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