Before the nation turns their eyes to the Super Bowl, Ohio State and Nebraska square off in Lincoln this afternoon.
Following Thursday’s thrilling win in Columbus over Maryland, Ohio State hits the road this afternoon to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. The Buckeyes are coming off a 73-70 win over Maryland on Thursday night, with Bruce Thornton recording his third 30-point game of the season.
Jake Diebler’s team dug themselves a hole early in the game, trailing by 17 points in the first half. By the time the teams made their way back to the locker room for halftime, the Buckeyes had cut a little bit off of Maryland’s lead, trailing 41-32.
Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Thornton had one of the best performances of his Ohio State career in the comeback win on Thursday night, finishing with 31 points, six assists, five rebounds, and three steals. The guard scored 21 of his 31 points in the second half, and was massive down the stretch for the Buckeyes, outscoring the Terrapins 17-9 over the final seven minutes of the game.
With his scoring output, Thornton now sits 30th in school history with 1,328 career points. If Thornton scores eight points today, he’ll pass Jim Cleamons on Ohio State’s all-time scoring list, and 11 points will move him past Marc Loving for 28th-most in school history.
The only other Buckeye to reach double figures in scoring on Thursday night was Micah Parrish, who finished with 13 points, putting him at exactly 1,500 career points. The game was a nice bounce-back performance for Parrish after he scored just four points in last Sunday’s loss to Illinois, snapping his four-game streak of scoring at least 10 points.
Entering today’s game, Parrish is fourth on the team in scoring this season, averaging 11.3 points per game.
Even though he wasn’t very active on the offensive end against the Terrapins, Devin Royal came up big defensively, pulling down 11 rebounds in the victory. The board work by Royal marked the fourth time this season where he grabbed at least 10 rebounds in a game. With 7.5 rebounds per game this season, Royal is the team’s leading rebounder.
The work Royal put in on Thursday was even more crucial since the Buckeyes were not only without Aaron Bradshaw. Sean Stewart was saddled with foul trouble, committing five fouls in just 16 minutes.
One player who has struggled with his shot lately is John Mobley Jr. Despite scoring 20 points in last Sunday’s loss to Illinois, Mobley was just 6-of-21 from the field. The freshman shot even worse on Thursday night, finishing with eight points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Diebler likely wanted to limit Mobley’s minutes as the season went on to keep him fresher later in the season, but the Buckeyes were thrown for a loop when Meechie Johnson Jr. left the team in December to deal with some personal matters, thrusting Mobley into playing more since Ohio State doesn’t have a lot of depth at guard. Over the last four games, Mobley has played at least 32 minutes in each of those contests.
Preview
This afternoon’s opponent for Ohio State is the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who the Buckeyes hold a 21-7 edge in the series all-time, including winning 17 of the 22 games the teams have played since Nebraska joined the Big Ten. Last year the teams split their two regular season meetings, with the Cornhuskers winning 83-69 in Lincoln in January, followed by a 78-69 win by the Buckeyes in Columbus in late February.
The win by Ohio State snapped a three-game losing streak against Nebraska. In the January meeting, a migraine forced Bruce Thornton to miss the only game of his college career.
The Cornhuskers enter today’s game riding a three-game winning streak. The last time Nebraska took the court was on Wednesday out in Seattle against Washington. Fred Hoiberg’s team got off to a slow start, trailing the Huskies 47-37 at halftime. Whatever Hoiberg said to his team at the break worked, as the Cornhuskers opened up the second half on a 15-2 run to take the lead.
Brice Williams scored a team-high 23 points, while Juwan Gary added 17 points and seven rebounds. Connor Essegian scored 16 points off the bench, and is averaging 11.3 points per game, making the Wisconsin transfer one of two players in the Big Ten to average double digits while starting five or less games.
The straw that stirs the drink that is the Nebraska offense has been Brice Williams. Over the last three games, Williams is averaging 26 points per game, while grabbing 5.7 rebounds and dishing out 4.6 assists. For the season, Williams is averaging 19.2 points per game.
With his 23 points in the win over Washington on Wednesday, Williams and his father, Henry, became the seventh father-son duo in college basketball to combine for 4,000 career points. Henry scored 2,383 points during his career at Charlotte, while Brice now has 1,697 points during his time at Charlotte and Nebraska.
Dylan Widger-Imagn Images
Along with Williams, Juwan Gary has had a strong season for the Cornhuskers, averaging 12.9 points per game and 5.0 rebounds per game. After starting his college career at Alabama, Gary transferred to Nebraska following his second season in Tuscaloosa. Gary has increased his scoring in each of his three seasons in Lincoln, and recently notched his 1,000th career point.
Today’s game will mark just the second game against Ohio State Gary has appeared in since transferring to Nebraska. The forward missed the majority of the Big Ten schedule during the 2022-23 season due to injury, followed by being sidelined for a few weeks last year in January. In the February loss to Ohio State, Gary scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds.
Down on the block, Devin Royal will be battling with Andrew Morgan and Berke Buyuktuncel. Morgan is averaging 8.0 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game, while Buyuktuncel is adding 6.9 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. The duo has helped to fill the void left by Rienk Mast, who suffered a knee injury in the offseason and is sidelined for the 2024-25 campaign.
Even though Morgan and Buyuktuncel won’t blow opponents away with their scoring presence, they give Fred Hoiberg tough minutes and do a lot of the dirty work in the paint.
Rounding out the Cornhuskers who should see a good chunk of time on the floor this afternoon are guards Rollie Worster and Sam Hoiberg. Hoiberg started his college career at Utah State before transferring to Utah, spending three seasons in Salt Lake City. Worster has started 19 of 23 games this year, averaging 8.0 points per game, 4.0 rebounds per contest, and 2.8 assists per game. Hoiberg is the coach’s son and sees around 20 minutes of playing time per game.
Prediction
Ohio State winning this afternoon will be good news for Philadelphia Eagles fans. The Buckeyes are 3-3 when playing on Super Bowl Sunday, but all three times Ohio State has won on the day of the NFL’s biggest game, the team from the NFC has gone on to lift the Lombardi Trophy.
The last time the Buckeyes played on Super Bowl Sunday was in 2023 when they lost to Michigan State 62-41. Kansas City and Philadelphia also met up later that evening, with the Chiefs winning 38-35.
Both these teams have put together some good basketball over the last few weeks, working their way back into contention for spots in the NCAA Tournament. It’s not going to be easy for Ohio State to go into Lincoln and earn a victory, as the Cornhuskers are 9-2 this year when playing at home.
Then again, it’s not like the Buckeyes don’t have experience going into some tough environments and playing good basketball. Not only did they nearly make a miraculous comeback in the second half at Wisconsin, they halted Purdue’s lengthy winning streak in West Lafayette.
It feels like this game is going to come down to who has the better game between Bruce Thornton and Brice Williams, since both have been playing lights out basketball lately. The key is which team is going to be able to compliment their superstar better. If John Mobley Jr. can find his shot early on this afternoon, it’s going to be really tough for the Cornhuskers to defend their home court.
What Nebraska is going to have to try and do is get Devin Royal in foul trouble early and keep him off the floor since Sean Stewart and Aaron Bradshaw have been underwhelming as Buckeyes. If the Cornhuskers can dominate the paint, then Ohio State has to hope their outside shots are falling since there isn’t much behind Royal in scarlet and gray when it comes to bigs.
While the Buckeyes have guys like Micah Parrish and Evan Mahaffey who can play bigger than what they measure, it is tough to do on the road for an extended amount of time when team depth is tested like it has been most of the season for Jake Diebler as he manages injuries and off the court issues with some players.
This has the feeling of yet another Ohio State that isn’t decided until late. At least the players and fans are used to Buckeye games coming down to the wire, and the way they have won some close games recently ends up being the difference, as Ohio State upends Nebraska in Lincoln.
ESPN BPI: Nebraska 50.8%
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
TV: Big Ten Network
LGHL score prediction: Ohio State 74, Nebraska 70