The Ohio State men’s basketball team opens up the Jake Diebler era with 80-72 win over No. 19 Texas

Ohio State got 33 points off the bench Monday night, knocking off a ranked team in Vegas to start the new season.

The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team started its 2024-25 season and the Jake Diebler era off with an 80-72win No. 19 Texas in Las Vegas on Monday night.

Jake Diebler went with a starting five of Bruce Thornton, Meechie Johnson, Micah Parrish, Sean Stewart, and Aaron Bradshaw. Texas head coach Rodney Terry countered with Jordan Pope, Tre Johnson, Arthur Kaluma, Chendall Weaver, and Kadin Shedrick.

The Buckeyes got off to a hot start, knocking down four of their first seven three-point attempts to take a 14-7 lead after a Devin Royal three-pointer. Royal, Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr., and Micah Parrish all hit a three-pointer in the early minutes.

Thornton and Mobley added another three-pointer each and gave the Buckeyes a 6-for-9 start from three-point range, giving Ohio State a 25-18 lead with 9:37 remaining in the first half.

Three minutes later, Ohio State got three-pointers from Meechie Johnson and Mobley, plus two free-throws from Sean Stewart. This series gave the Buckeyes a 33-18 lead with 6:24 remaining in the opening frame, the largest of the game to that point.

Texas answered with a 10-0 run of its own over the next 3:55, cutting the Buckeye lead from 15 points to five. Ohio State closed the half with another Parrish three-pointer and a Royal jumper to take a 38-31 lead into halftime.

It was a freshman affair early, with John Mobley Jr. leading the Buckeyes with nine points and Tre Johnson leading Texas with 15 points at the half. Micah Parrish added nine points for Ohio State and Arthur Kaluma added seven points for Texas.

To start the second half, Devin Royal and Kadin Shedrick got the scoring going for each team, and another Tre Johnson three-pointer saw Texas cut the Buckeye lead to 40-36. The two teams traded buckets and Ohio State took a 46-39 lead into the first media timeout, five minutes into the second half.

John Mobley Jr hit his fourth three pointer of the game on his fourth attempt and Ohio State pushed its lead back out to ten at 49-39.

Tre Johnson and Arthur Kaluma provided a much needed offensive spark for Texas, cutting the Buckeye lead in half and forcing a Buckeye timeout with a 54-49 lead. Micah Parrish baited Tre Johnson into a freshman moment and forced a foul shooting a three, giving the Buckeyes a 57-49 lead with 10:10 remaining in the game.

After Johnson split a pair of free throws to bring Ohio State’s lead back down to seven, Thornton scored a bucket and Royal knocked down his second three-pointer of the game to give the Buckeyes a 12-point lead, 71-59, with 5:13 remaining in the game.

Then, the leader of the team Bruce Thornton stepped up, finishing off a three-point play and knocking down a mid-range jumper to give the Buckeyes a 76-64 lead 2:49 left in the contest, forcing a Rodney Terry timeout for the Longhorns.

Thornton continued to take the game over and the Buckeyes led 80-68 with just under a minute left. The Buckeyes finished with a 80-72 win over the top 20 ranked Longhorns.

Tre Johnson set a Texas school record for points a debut, breaking Kevin Durant’s record from 2006.

Johnson led Texas with 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting, while Thornton finished with 20 points and Parrish finished with 17 points for the Buckeyes.

Here are four takeaways from the Buckeyes win/loss over No. 19 Texas:

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Tempo, Tempo, Tempo

The main talking point from the coaches and players in Columbus this offseason was how much faster they planned on playing. Adding players like Meechie Johnson, Ques Glover, and Sean Stewart only confirmed that was the goal and it was evident early on.

At one point, the Buckeyes had Thornton, Glover and Mobley on the floor, which is about the smallest and fastest the Buckeyes can go. We will see moving forward how often they implement the small ball, three guard lineup and really run the floor.

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Experimentation with the rotation

In the first six minutes of the game, Ohio State subbed in five different players, letting ten players see the floor in the early stages of the first game of the season.

Bruce Thornton, Meechie Johnson, Micah Parrish, Sean Stewart, and Aaron Bradshaw were the first five on the floor, but Devin Royal, John Mobley Jr., Austin Parks, Evan Mahaffey, and Ques Glover all saw early minutes also for Jake Diebler and the staff.

With six transfers and two freshman incoming, the Buckeyes knew they would have to experiment early with who works best with who, and it was clear early on that was the goal. Parks and Mahaffey only played five minutes each in the first half, but they both saw the floor early and were involved on both ends.

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They need to find inside scoring

A big concern coming into this game from the outside was the Buckeyes potential lack of three-point shooting. However, in the first half of this one, the Buckeyes were 10-for-17 from three-point range and 2-for-16 from two-point range.

In the second half, the Buckeyes got some buckets at the rim early on and it seemed easier, but guys like Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart will need to be able to score in the post and down low to open up the three-point shot, rather than live and die by three.

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Devin Royal – Mr. Clean

While he wasn’t a starter on Monday night, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound sophomore was huge foe Ohio State in crucial moments. He had two hig offensive rebounds in the second half that led to baskets following missed shots by his teammates during a crucial stretch where Texas cut Ohio State’s huge lead down to just three points.

He also knocked down a pair of three-pointers, his first career game hitting multiple treys. Royal finished with a career-high 16 points.