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Bruce Thornton seizes momentum for Ohio State against Purdue Fort Wayne: Takeaways
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- Bruce Thornton seizes momentum for Ohio State against Purdue Fort Wayne: Takeaways
Bruce Thornton has seen enough men's college basketball to understand the importance of momentum at the end of a half.
On Nov. 7, the Ohio State senior captain had just seen visiting Purdue Fort Wayne turn an Ohio State turnover into a transition layup with 3:23 remaining that pulled the Mastodons within 38-27. After having been down 11 points not even three minutes into the game and then down 18 before the midpoint of the second half, the visitors' bench was getting into it and Purdue Fort Wayne could feel the momentum shifting inside Value City Arena.
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So could Thornton. Starting with a quick drive and finish at the rim with 1:13 left in the half, Thornton scored seven points spread across three consecutive possessions that took 37 seconds off the clock. His personal 7-0 run quieted the visitors, settled things for the Buckeyes and allowed them to take a 45-30 lead into halftime on the way to a 94-68 win .
That sequence, where he got to the rim on three straight possessions, was Thornton putting it on his shoulders to take things over.
"Me being older and understanding how momentum works and energy works, it's so crucial," Thornton said. "Especially in college basketball, anybody can be beat on any given night. Me cutting the momentum I felt was like a big thing. I felt the momentum shift so I tried to do my best offensively and defensively to split the momentum so at least going into halftime having that lead ... that can carry over to the second half."
Nov 7, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton (2) drives to the basket as Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons forward Yuval Levin (15) defends during the second half at Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
It was one highlight stretch of many for Thornton, who finished with a career-high 38 points on 14-of-17 shooting. Thornton was 5 for 8 from 3-point range, made all five free-throw attempts and added five rebounds and five assists while scoring the most points for an Ohio State player since Jared Sullinger had 40 against IUPUI on Dec. 9, 2010.
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First, he scored on a drive to the basket. Then, he cut from the right side of the key to the left block, spun around and flipped the ball over his head and off the backboard from the left block while being fouled. Finally, he simply drove to the right block, overpowered his defender and finished.
"We have a saying in our program, 'Be your best late,' and part of that is ending halves because momentum shifts," coach Jake Diebler said. "They did, they seized some momentum and we kind of took it right back to close the half. That was important."
On a night of highlights for Thornton, there was one other particularly impactful moment that isn't reflected on the box score. Ohio State's lead had remained in double figures since a Thornton 3-pointer from the left wing put the Buckeyes ahead 13-2 and forced a Purdue Fort Wayne timeout with 17:37 left in the half, but the Mastodons clawed within single digits when Diebler used a timeout with 14:28 left in the game.
The Buckeyes had turned it over on three consecutive possessions. Christoph Tilly lost his dribble, Amare Bynum had the ball stolen and John Mobley threw an ill-advised pass intended for Bynum that went for a layup at the other end.
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Thornton was nowhere near that final turnover, but Diebler went right to him as the players headed to the bench with Ohio State ahead 55-46.
"I pulled him aside and said, 'I need you to settle us here. You've got to find the ball and be a great playmaker,' " Diebler said. "Sometimes you talk through some of your best players to deliver a message to your team."
Thornton immediately scored out of the timeout to push it back to an 11-point lead. By the end of the game, Thornton had climbed to No. 15 on Ohio State's all-time scoring list, passing Evan Turner (No. 18 with 1,517 points) and Jon Diebler (No. 15; 1,536) in the process.
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"Well good," Jake Diebler, Jon's older brother, said with a laugh. "Knock him down a little bit."
More importantly for Thornton, Ohio State improved to 2-0 in the process.
Here are three other takeaways from Ohio State's win:
Nov 7, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes guard John Mobley Jr. (0) looks to pass the ball as Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons forward Darius Duffy (34) defends during the second half at Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Ohio State turnovers holding back a prolific offense
Through two games, Ohio State is scoring on 63.1% (94 of 149) of its possessions. That's an impressive enough number, but it grows substantially when you remove turnovers from the equation. After turning it over 17 times against IU Indy, Ohio State had 19 giveaways against Purdue Fort Wayne.
That means the Buckeyes have scored on a staggering 83.2% (94 of 113) of their possessions when they don't end it with a turnover. Odds are, if Ohio State gets a shot, it's probably going to go in.
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As of Nov. 7, the Buckeyes are No. 11 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, averaging 119.7 points per 100 possessions according to KenPom.com. They are second in two-point field-goal percentage (80.0%), third in effective field goal percentage (76.2) and 17th in 3-point shooting percentage (48.0%).
They are also 239th in turnover rate at 22.7%.
"Give (the Mastodons) credit because they are ultra aggressive in gaps," Diebler said, "(but) we've got to be better in that area."
Thornton said Diebler emphasized the turnovers at halftime. The Buckeyes had 10 in the first 20 minutes, eight of which came in the final 10 minutes of the half. Ahead 31-17, Ohio State turned it over on three of four possessions but still led 33-21 when Thornton found Brandon Noel for a dunk. Then a few moments later, with Purdue Fort Wayne within 38-25, the Buckeyes turned it over on three straight possessions: Christoph Tilly lost a Gabe Cupps inbounds pass out of bounds, Tilly was called for a moving screen and John Mobley Jr. threw an ill-advised pass to Amare Bynum that went for a layup at the other end.
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That set up Thornton's run of seven straight points to end the half.
Devin Royal is not fully healthy
Diebler did not get into full details, but junior wing Devin Royal played only 16:46 and did not attempt a shot until the second half while dealing with an unspecified injury.
"We've got to evaluate it," Diebler said. "Coming out of halftime, it's a little bit of a nagging injury without knowing all the medical terms. He keeps progressing a little bit and then we maybe have a little setback. We've got to evaluate what he needs to get back to 100%."
At the half, Royal had played 7:15 with an assist, a rebound and a steal with two fouls. When the Buckeyes opened the second half, he sat on an stationary bike near the team bench as Diebler went with third-year guard Gabe Cupps instead.
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"Going into halftime we felt like he was a little bothered so we were trying to give him a chance to get a little bit of an extended warmup," Jake Diebler said. "He would have started if he felt like he was at 100%, but we didn't know if he was going to be available the rest of the game."
Royal appeared to be wearing a heat wrap of some kind on his right thigh/groin area while walking to a team huddle during the second half. He eventually checked in with 14:28 left and hit a 3-pointer two minutes later on his first shot of the game. He sunk a second one with 9:33 left and checked out for good with 4:57 left, having scored 6 points with three rebounds, one assist and one steal with three fouls.
"In Devin Royal fashion, he doesn't like to miss a minute, ever," Jake Diebler said. "When they gave him the go to get in there, I thought he showed tremendous heart, toughness and really gave us a boost. We've got to give him a chance to recover. He's working really hard and rehabbing and spending a ton of time in the training room and that's why he keeps making progress. Hopefully he can turn the corner in that regard."
Ohio State wants to shoot more 3s
The Buckeyes got 31.0% of their scoring from 3-pointers last season, a number that ranked No. 193 nationally. Their percentage of 3-pointers compared to field goals was 37.7%, which ranked No. 202 nationally.
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Through two games, Ohio State is 108th nationally in percentage of scoring coming from 3-pointers at 34.0%. Jake Diebler wants them shooting more as the Buckeyes emphasize 3-pointers and shot at the rim at the expense of mid-range jumpers.
"I'm not one of those guys who's a no mid-range shot ever, but there's some truth in the analytics, especially when you have a team full of so many capable 3-point shooters," the coach said. "There's going to be times as the clock winds down where you've got to trust guys to make a read and make some of those, but we want to attempt more 3-point field goals this year than last year. That's part of how we want to play."
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com , on Bluesky at @ cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @ AdamJardy .
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bruce Thornton's carries Ohio State vs Purdue Fort Wayne: Takeaways
