Devin Royal dropped in 26 points on the afternoon, but the Buckeyes could not quite get over the hump against the league-leading Wolverines. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Bruce Thornton’s late shot to tie doesn’t reach the rim, and the Buckeyes miss a big chance to boost their NCAA Tournament resume.
Columbus, OH – Ohio State stared down a shot to tie the score with three seconds left against the Big Ten’s first-place team. Short of a dunk or wide-open layup, the shot was as good as anyone on the home side could have expected.
Bruce Thornton had probed and probed for a path to the paint and found it against Michigan 7-footer Chase Wolf. Thornton pivoted, Wolf slipped to the floor.
A wide-open shot from maybe seven feet. Cash money for Thornton.
But, suddenly more open than anticipated, Thornton’s feel for the play was thrown off. He short-armed the shot and hit only air. Michigan grabbed the loose ball, made a free throw with two-tenths of a second left and escaped the Buckeyes with an 86-83 victory at the Schottenstein Center.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
“We did show great fight, show great toughness,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “Really like the look we got there at the end. Our execution at the end was really good, so that’s a good sign for us moving forward. But just disappointed, angry we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”
The Buckeyes (15-11, 7-8) failed again to push their league record above .500, but with five games left they have plenty of chance to do so and build their NCAA Tournament resume. In the latest projections, the Buckeyes are as high as a No. 9 seed because of some victories over highly rated teams and strength of schedule.
A win over No. 20 Michigan (20-5, 12-2), however, would have been an eye-catching addition to the resume. The Wolverines have won six straight to take a one-game lead over Purdue.
Michigan’s strength is Wolf, a big with point guard skills, and fellow 7-footer Vlad Goldin in the post. They combined for 37 points, 21 rebounds and six assists. Goldin led Michigan to a 44-39 halftime lead with 12 points. Wolf scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half and most often had the answer for every big Buckeyes basket.
Still, the Buckeyes showed resilience no matter what big plays those two made. And they showed it the entire back-and-forth game that featured 16 lead changes and 11 ties.
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As the game ticked under three minutes, Thornton drove and dished to Sean Stewart in the dunker’s spot. Then Thornton scored in the paint to tie the score at 80 just before the two-minute mark.
But Roddy Gayle Jr., who was a Buckeye the past two seasons, scored to give Michigan the lead for good. And Goldin scored on a third Michigan shot attempt for an 84-80 lead.
But the Buckeyes fought back. Micah Parrish, having his coldest shooting game in weeks, made a 3-pointer from the corner with 32 seconds left. Wolf, a 63% foul shooter, put the lead at 85-83 with 24 seconds left when he made one of two.
Bruce Thornton, who has been a staple in the Ohio State offense all season, short armed a 7-foot jumper that would have tied the game late.
Then it was Thornton’s chance to force overtime that, like the Buckeyes have too many times this season, came up a little short.
Despite the final miss, the Buckeyes clearly did what would normally be enough to win. They’ve been more efficient, but 83 points always feels like it ought to be enough.
Devin Royal scored 26 points on 10 of 16 shooting. Michigan had no good matchup for him. He’s too big and long for the smaller players and too quick for the bigger ones.
Thornton scored 17 and had six assists. John Mobley Jr. scored 16. With Parrish’s shooting off (2 of 11) and only nine points, the Buckeyes still managed to shoot 46% and 36% from three-point range. The Buckeyes’ only bad stretch was a four-minute drought late in the first half.
The Buckeyes’ downfall was on the defensive end, an area they have shored up over the past month. They allowed Michigan to score too often in transition. Not fast breaks. Instead, right into offense for a good shot without threat of the shot clock playing a role. And often those opportunities came after Ohio State scored.
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The worst part, however, was Michigan’s attack of the offensive boards. They turned 19 offensive rebounds into 21 points. The Buckeyes scored only 12 second-chance points.
“In games like this, these high-level games, you gotta be better at attention to detail,” Diebler said. “Some of that was on the glass. Certainly, we didn’t do a good enough job rebounding. But they didn’t do anything we weren’t anticipating, and we had some defensive breakdowns with our communication that we could have done better in.”
Overall, the Buckeyes were outrebounded 46-31.
The Buckeyes need to be impressive over the final few games, otherwise, they may find themselves on the ever-dredded NCAA bubble, instead of their currently-projected 9th seed.
“We weren’t trying to get in a jumping contest in the paint when the shot went up,” Diebler said. “But too many times, especially in the first half, we didn’t hit, we weren’t physical, we were trying to be athletic. And that was a point of emphasis for us, and we didn’t execute that well.”
The Buckeyes’ next chance to get back to even in the league comes at home Thursday against Northwestern (13-12, 4-10). The Buckeyes then travel to Los Angeles to face UCLA (19-7, 10-5) and USC (14-11, 6-8). Then two final games against teams they’ve lost to this season: Home to face Nebraska (16-9, 6-8) and at Indiana (15-11, 6-9).
And the NCAA watch will continue for the Buckeyes to go dancing for the first time since 2022.
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