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Here's why Ohio State men think their offense will look and perform better than last year
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- Here's why Ohio State men think their offense will look and perform better than last year
The image is stuck in the minds of anyone who has watched Ohio State's men's basketball program for the last several years. Tight game, shot clock winding down, and somewhere beyond the 3-point line stands Bruce Thornton dribbling the ball. And dribbling it some more. And probably one or two more times, as the Buckeyes look for some kind of offensive movement to create a high-percentage shot.
Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. Often, it was challenging to watch, especially after coach Jake Diebler's public pledges that the Buckeyes would play at a faster tempo and with more offensive pace and flow during his first season.
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Internally, those hopes were already being tempered as the Buckeyes opened preseason practice last fall.
"As we got into fall and the season developed it became clear that last year's team needed more structure," Diebler said during the summer.
So why could this year be different? It's a case of working smarter, not harder, and that was a guiding concern when it came to assembling the roster for the 2025-26 season. While retention was prioritized, so was building a team better equipped to make things happen rather than have everything scripted out for them.
Last year's transfer portal additions were touted for their high prep recruiting rankings and their potential upside. This year's group, led by Christoph Tilly , Brandon Noel and Gabe Cupps, has been consistently praised by Diebler and his assistants for their high basketball IQ. Adding them to the roster doesn't mean the Buckeyes will just roll the balls out and play without some sort of system, but there will be fewer scripted offensive movements.
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"That's where I think the high basketball IQ experience makes a big difference is it allows you to provide less structure in the way of calling sets every time to now we can teach cutting and spacing principles based on what the ball decides, essentially," Diebler said. "Certainly within some structure and rules, you're giving guys a lot more freedom. This group has shown an ability to really operate in that space much better than what we were able to do last year."
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As the summer wound down, Noel said he had noticed the Buckeyes making smarter plays not just offensively but defensively, as well.
"Sometimes you might think you have an easy play on offense and some of these guys are smart enough defensively to pick up on it and take it away from you," he said. "Things in the past I've thought would be a freebee, they'll take it out and it won't be as easy as you think it should. That's just a basketball IQ."
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Last year, Ohio State finished 30th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency according to KenPom.com, averaging 118.2 points per 100 possessions. It was the second-highest rating for the program since 2010-11. The Buckeyes also finished 197th in adjusted tempo, marking their fastest tempo since Thad Matta was fired in 2017.
But Ohio State was only 17-15 overall, 9-11 in the Big Ten and eighth in the Big Ten in points per game with an offense that didn't always statistically reflect what was frustratingly common for viewers.
The ball stuck too much and offensive movement stagnated.
"When the going got tough, the best structure for our team last year was ball screens," Diebler said. "Ball screens provide structure and rules around that. Teams combated that as the year went on by committing two defenders to the ball and Bruce (Thornton) or Juni (Mobley Jr.)."
Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton drives against Campbell on Nov. 22.
When Ohio State would try to counteract that with perhaps a short roll or a throw-ahead pass to the screener going to the basket, that meant putting the ball into the hands of players who weren't very comfortable having to read a defense and make a play in those spots. This year, as highlighted in videos posted to the program's social media accounts, Diebler has laid out video evidence why this year's roster additions are better suited to make such plays.
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This year, that should mean that when teams commit two to Thornton or Mobley, the Buckeyes are better equipped to create and maintain advantages on their defenders. Plus, the overall skill and Division I experience on this year's roster likely means the Buckeyes will be significantly less reliant on ball screen than in recent seasons.
What will it mean for the regular season? Ohio State has consistently had an assist rate of around 70% during the spring, summer and fall during its scrimmages, whether that's against themselves or program alumni, and those numbers have come when the defense has largely known which plays were coming.
Big Ten play has a longstanding history of slowing teams down and forcing them to play at a certain tempo. It's unlikely that the 2025-26 Buckeyes, or any of their league counterparts, are suddenly going to morph into the fastest or most prolific team in Division I men's basketball.
Ohio State might actually be faster this year, though. And the offense might look more fluid and produce a couple easier looks each game, possessions that could be the difference for a team that played nine one-possession games and went 4-5 a season ago.
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"Experience and basketball IQ make a huge difference," Diebler said.
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: Ohio State basketball thinks offense will be better in 2025-26
