Buckeyes Open Season With 80-72 Win Over No. 19 Texas

Ohio State junior point guard Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in OSU’s season-opening 80-72 win over No. 19 Texas.

Longhorns’ freshman guard Tre Johnson led all scorers with 29 points. It was the most points ever for a Texas freshman in his college debut.

San Diego State transfer forward Micah Parrish scored 17 points in his Ohio State debut. He also added six rebounds and five assists. The Buckeyes got 30 points off the bench from forward Devin Royal (16) and freshman guard John Mobley, Jr. (14). Mobley hit all four of his three-point attempts in his 13 minutes of action.

The Buckeyes shot 10-of-17 from three in the first half, but just 2-of-16 from inside the arc. Still, the perimeter shooting was hot enough to get OSU out to a 38-31 halftime lead.

Ohio State got the scoring started with an 8-0 run thanks to a three-pointer from Thornton, a turnaround jumper from Parrish, and then a three-pointer from Parrish. In the first 90 seconds of the game, the Buckeyes were up by eight points.

Texas answered with a 5-0 run of their own, but that was snapped via a Meechie Johnson three-pointer to make it 11-5 with 16:54 left in the first half. Leading 17-13 three minutes later, Mobley drilled a very deep three. A few minutes later, with the lead again cut down to four points, Mobley drained another three to build the lead back up to 25-17.

Then a little over a minute later, Mobley dropped in another three to give OSU a 10-point lead. Forty seconds later, Johnson added yet another three-pointer. Ohio State’s lead grew to 33-18 with 6:24 left in the first half before Texas finally began to mount their comeback.

Tre Johnson sank a three on the break to get it within nine points. He then hit a pull-up jumper to make it a seven-point game. A dunk by Longhorn forward Arthur Kaluma made it 33-28 with 2:29 left in the half. Parrish snapped the scoreless streak for the Buckeyes with a three-pointer. Tre Johnson then answered with a three of his own to make it 36-31 with a little over a minute left in the half.

Johnson continued his hot shooting in the second half, hitting a three-pointer to make it 40-36 Buckeyes with 18:46 left in the game. The basket gave him 18 points in the game.

Mobley was inserted back into the game and didn’t waste much time, draining a baseline three to make it 49-39 with 15:03 remaining. The Buckeye lead then fluctuated between 3-8 points for the next eight minutes of the game.

With the lead down to three points at 59-56, Devin Royal hit a jumper to give the Buckeyes some breathing room. One minute later, he added a layup to make it 66-58. A few possessions after that, Royal dropped in a baseline three-pointer, giving Ohio State a 71-59 lead with 5:13 left in the game.

Tre Johnson then made his fifth three-pointer of the game to get the Buckeyes’ lead back into single digits, but they could never pose a serious threat down the stretch. Ohio State held the Longhorns at arm’s length in the game’s final two minutes, showing the kind of toughness and ability to finish that head coach Jake Diebler wants from his team.

After shooting just 2-of-16 from two-point range in the first half, the Buckeyes shot 11-of-16 from inside the arc in the second half.

Ohio State assisted on 16 of their 27 field goals. They finished 14-of-28 from three-point territory.

Up next for the Buckeyes is the home opener next Monday against Youngstown State. The tip is scheduled for 6:00 pm and the game will air on BTN.