Devin Royal leaves Trojan defenders in his wake to score this bucket in the second half of Wednesday’s 89-82 win over Southern California. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
Senior point guard Bruce Thornton had his team’s back when it needed him most Wednesday night, delivering in the clutch to ease the bad memory of Sunday’s loss to Michigan.
Columbus, OH – Ohio State basketball began depending on Bruce Thornton four years ago, giving him the reins to lead. He returned the favor by staying and ignoring the wooing of the transfer portal to find a more favorable and NCAA Tournament-ready situation.
And now, with Big Dance dreams bubbling, the Buckeyes need one of the best point guards and scorers in program history more than ever.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes the OHSAA and Ohio State sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
On must-win Wednesday night with USC in the Schottenstein Center, Thornton played like an all-time Buckeye great. He led them, like all great floor generals do, to an 89-82 Big Ten victory.
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The four-year captain’s voice at practice the past two days and against the Trojans was more timely and necessary than ever after Sunday’s humbling loss to No. 2 Michigan.
“He was a little more talkative about the stuff we need him talking about,” head coach Jake Diebler said. “His voice at timeouts was at the level it has been at times this year.”
Thornton’s leadership accomplished what all good leaders seek. He brought others along. Diebler said Devin Royal, especially, John Mobley Jr. and Gabe Cupps had strong voices, too.
“The important thing is, is he wasn’t on an island,” Diebler said.
Statistically and in the clutch, however, Thornton proved he is a survivor of all that has not gone the way he envisioned when he left Georgia to come to Ohio.
Thornton’s stat line: 21 points, eight assists, 11 of 11 free-throw accuracy. Even better was his clutch line: Ohio State’s final nine points including no misses in seven free-throw attempts in the final 1:34.
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All this after the gut-punch, disappointing loss to Michigan when Diebler questioned his team’s physicality and toughness. Thornton spoke about the renewed mindset he helped lead his team toward after a Sunday loss that could have derailed the Buckeyes for good.
“We stick true to ourselves,” he said “I don’t want to be like nobody else in the country. We own up to the mistakes that we didn’t show up on Sunday. That’s the first step of moving forward. We fixed it. We had two good days of practice. We bonded together, understanding what we needed to show today. We got to the dub.”
Bruce Thornton’s 21 points moved him into fifth place on the all-time OSU mens basketball scoring list, ahead of Kelvin Ransey.
And getting the dub is all that matters as the middle of February approaches. The Buckeyes (16-8, 8-6 Big Ten) were listed as the first team out of the NCAA Tournament this week in ESPN’s bracket projections. USC (18-7, 7-7) was listed as a No. 10 seed and one of 10 Big Ten teams in the field.
What also matters is how the Buckeyes responded to the Michigan loss, especially in the second half. They shot 60% and held USC to 34.3%. They made 14 of 14 free throws to finish 24 of 25.
This win, however, doesn’t mean they’ve cured their ills against Top 25 competition. Michigan exposed the Buckeyes as a team that probably isn’t capable of knocking off bigger, stronger and more talented teams when those teams play well.
But the Buckeyes still have at least four opportunities to catch one or two of those type teams on an off night if they will show the fight they did against a USC team just as desperate to stack wins. The Buckeyes face Virginia on Saturday in Nashville in search of their first resume-enhancing Quad 1 win. Then they have Quad 1 chances at home against Purdue and on the road against Michigan State and Iowa and potentially in the season finale at home against Indiana.
When 6’4″ meets 7’5″…Taison Chatman played well off the bench again but had this shot attempt swatted by USC center Gabe Dynes.
Royal is learning from Thornton’s leadership. He said the only game that matters now is Virginia.
“What we’ve been doing is one game at a time,” Royal said. “Watch film and go on to the next one. Get better. Stay consistent.”
The Buckeyes have yet to lose consecutive games, but consistency from game to game and in games is a trait they continue to chase. Thornton preaches what is required.
“Showing up at work each and every day – that’s any and everything that you got to do in life,” he said. “Stuff just don’t come handed to you. Keep doing the small details that we need to do each and every day, and I feel like we can win any game on our schedule.”
Adversity must be overcome for the Buckeyes to get where they want to get on Selection Sunday. They faced some against USC.
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First, illness has been running through the team. Diebler told them when they stepped on the floor to begin warming up he didn’t want to hear about it. No excuses. Not this time of year.
Then the Trojans jumped to a 13-4 lead while the Buckeyes made only one of eight shots. No amount of NIL money could buy a shot. Then the Buckeyes woke up and went on an 11-2 run to tie the score at 15.
But adversity continued as USC’s elite ability to get free-throw opportunities answered every run the Buckeyes made, including several in the second half that pushed the lead to three- and four-possession advantages only to be cut back to one.
The Trojans seek out contact around the basket like a fullback and entered the game third in the nation with 27.6 free-throw attempts per game. They shot 33 on Wednesday, but fortunately for Ohio State they made only 24. Five of the misses came in the second half. And as good as freshman Alijah Arenas (son of former NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas) was with 25 points, he needed to make every one of his 16 free-throw attempts and not just 12 of them.
The Chick-fil-A promotion got more airtime than usual. Every time the opponent shoots a free throw, the scoreboard and PA announcer remind everyone about the Brickin for Chickin deal. If the opponent misses seven free throws, there’s free chicken in it for everyone.
Tough to stop…USC’s Alijah Arenas shoots through the block attempt of Amare Bynum (left) and Christoph Tilly, but finished with 25 points.
The Buckeyes’ good second-half play and the free chicken reward that finally came kept the crowd engaged until the end when Thornton didn’t brick anything. And before he scored his team’s final nine points, he found Amare Bynum in transition for a couple of momentum-driving dunks.
“I just play basketball at a super-high level, so if I see an open guy, I’m gonna hit him,” Thornton said. “If he’s not open, I’m gonna shoot it. That’s how I look at the game. I told him to run the floor and I’d hit him. It’s that simple.”
Royal bounced back as well with 19 points, made each of his eight two-point shots and led the team with seven rebounds. Mobley Jr. scored 13 points and made two 3-pointers after not making any against Michigan.
As this season progresses and the goal of playing in the NCAA Tournament becomes a more and more tenuous proposition, Thornton is working his up the school’s career scoring list.
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He entered the game needing five points to surpass Kelvin Ransey for fifth place. He did so in the first half and now has 1,950 points. The top four are within his reach: William Buford, Jerry Lucas, Herb Williams and leader Dennis Hopson at 2,096.
OSU’s Amare Bynum gets a hand on the shot attempt of Southern California’s Gabe Dynes.
“It means a lot,” Thornton said. “Never thought that would be one of my goals, but definitely a blessing, especially all the former players that played at Ohio State. Without my teammates and coaches it wouldn’t happen. So very blessed.”
Diebler never imagined Thornton reaching such a level only because records aren’t something you talk about in recruiting. He didn’t even think about it until this season.
“It speaks to the high-level consistency he’s had throughout his career,” Diebler said. “Oftentimes, and Aaron Craft dealt with this, little guys who play really hard and really tough, you almost forget how talented they are. Aaron Craft was also really talented. Bruce Thornton’s really talented, and he’s worked really hard to develop his skill at just such an impressive level from an efficiency standpoint.”
To Diebler’s point, Thornton’s final nine points and 11 of 11 at the free-throw line came when the Buckeyes needed it most.
Ransey helped lead a program renaissance in the late 1970s. Thornton, if his team continues to show the fight it showed against USC, just might help start the next one.
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