2025-26 Big Ten basketball season preview: Ohio State Buckeyes

With the start of college basketball season in early November, Inside the Hall is taking a team-by-team look at the Big Ten and a player-by-player look at IU basketball’s roster.

Today, our team previews continue with Ohio State.

Previously: Penn State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Northwestern, Washington, Nebraska, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, USC, Michigan State

After an up-and-down 2024-25 season that included a win at Purdue and six losses at home, there’s pressure on Ohio State coach Jake Diebler to take a step forward this season in Columbus.

Diebler finished his first full season as Ohio State’s head coach with a 9-11 Big Ten record and a 17-15 mark overall. The season ended for the Buckeyes with a disappointing 77-70 loss to Iowa on Wednesday of the Big Ten tournament.

Ohio State was able to retain several of its top players from last season, including three of its top four scorers.

The headlining returnee is senior point guard Bruce Thornton, who enters the season as one of the Big Ten’s top players. The 6-foot-2 Georgia native tested the NBA draft waters last spring, but is back in Columbus with hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time. Thornton averaged 17.7 points, 4.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 36.2 minutes per game last season. He shot 50.1 percent from the field and 42.4 percent on 3s.

Joining Thornton in the Buckeye backcourt is sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. A confident player with a knack for making difficult shots, Mobley Jr. made 77 3-pointers last season as a freshman and shot 38.5 percent from deep. Mobley was the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 13 points per game and his production should only grow in his second season.

Junior wing Devin Royal is also back after starting 27 games last season. Royal’s 13.7 points per game were second on the roster last season and he shot 52.2 percent from the field. At 6-foot-6, he can play either forward spot and is also a solid rebounder. Royal’s 6.9 rebounds per game last season led the Buckeyes.

The Ohio State starting frontcourt should be filled out by a pair of transfer portal additions in Brandon Noel and Christoph Tilly.

The 6-foot-8 Noel is a fifth-year forward who earned All-Horizon League second team honors the past two seasons at Wright State. A native of Lucasville, Ohio, Noel averaged 19 points, 7.7 rebounds and shot 55.2 percent from the field and 35.8 percent on 3s last season.

Tilly, a 7-foot senior who arrives from Santa Clara, gives the Buckeyes legitimate size at the five. Tilly averaged 12.5 points in 22.6 minutes per game last season. Over his three seasons at Santa Clara, Tilly scored in double figures 40 times and had seven 20-point games.

Diebler is hopeful redshirt sophomore guard Taison Chatman can earn a rotation role after missing last season with a knee injury. A highly touted recruit in the 2023 class, the 6-foot-4 Chatman will be in the guard rotation if he can stay healthy.

Mathieu Grujicic, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard from Germany, averaged 24.6 points for Germany in the FIBA U18 Eurobasket over the summer and previously played for FC Barcelona’s U18 team.

Frontcourt depth will be provided by Baylor transfer Josh Ojianwuna and freshman A’mare Bynum.

Ojianwuna, a 6-foot-10 senior center, made 24 starts over three seasons at Baylor and averaged 7.4 points and 6.4 rebounds last season before suffering a knee injury in February. Ojianwuna may not be available to play when the season begins.

Bynum, a 6-foot-8 forward, played for Link Academy last season and was the No. 61 player in the final 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2025 class.

The Buckeyes also return 6-foot-6 sophomore Colin White and 7-foot-1 sophomore Ivan Njegovan. White played in 19 games last season and should provide wing depth while Njegovan, a Croatian-born center, appeared in 21 games.

Ohio State also added IU transfer guard Gabe Cupps, who missed the majority of last season with a lower body injury. As a freshman, Cupps averaged 2.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 21.7 minutes per game for the Hoosiers.

Bart Torvik’s projections are high for Ohio State entering the season. Torvik has the Buckeyes at No. 19 in the preseason. The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, however, isn’t as high on Ohio State and picked the Buckeyes to finish 11th in the Big Ten.

Bottom line: There’s enough talent on the Ohio State roster to make the NCAA tournament, but Diebler is unproven as a head coach. Last season was a disappointment as Ohio State spent most of the season on the tournament bubble before faltering in the Big Ten tournament when it needed a win to keep its March Madness hopes alive. The returning nucleus of Thornton, Mobley Jr. and Royal is strong, but the Buckeyes are going to need to protect home court and get strong play out of Noel and Tilly to meet expectations.

Quotable: “Last year, four of our top six guys were freshman and sophomores. Our sophomores didn’t have much experience as freshmen. Now you fast forward to our roster as it stands today, we have much more retention experience across the board.” – Diebler to Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

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