Bruce Thornton can dunk and Ohio State can run: 6 takeaways from win against Michigan
To the victor might go the spoils, but Jake Diebler would probably prefer a nap instead.
Two coaches overseeing seasons heading in opposite directions made their way through the postgame interview room at Value City Arena on Sunday afternoon. First went Michigan coach Juwan Howard, whose Wolverines have now lost seven straight games and are guaranteed to finish last in the Big Ten by multiple games.
“I tell you my food doesn’t taste the same,” Howard said. “My pillow becomes a lot harder, rough. When you’re winning, everything’s feeling great. I’m smiling every day and I’m joyful. Food tastes five-star level and that pillow becomes more a Sleep Number pillow.”
At the other end of the spectrum sat Diebler. Named Ohio State’s interim coach after Chris Holtmann was fired with six games left in his seventh season, Diebler has coached the Buckeyes to wins in four of five games including an upset of No. 2 Purdue, a win at Michigan State that snapped a 17-game road losing streak and now an 84-61 win against rival Michigan. Ohio State was 4-10 in Big Ten play when Holtmann was fired and is now 4-1 under Diebler.
But asked how his food tastes these days, or how his pillow hits him at night right now, Diebler’s wry smile and tired eyes echoed the answer that came from his mouth.
“Everything, I’m a little tired probably more than the food tastes better or not,” he said. “I just feel tired. That’s been the biggest difference for me personally. Being transparent, I’m a little more tired.”
It’s been a whirlwind, to say the least. Dead in the water after a 62-54 loss at No. 20 Wisconsin on Feb. 13, Ohio State has now put together a late charge with Diebler at the helm. The Buckeyes have a week off before closing the regular season at Rutgers on March 10.
From Feb. 18-March 3, Ohio State has rated as the nation’s No. 33 overall team according to BartTorvik.com. The Buckeyes have been No. 62 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 30 at the other end of the court. The website computes “wins against bubble,” which reflects “how many games a team has won against its schedule than a bubble-quality team would be expected to win.”
During that stretch, the Buckeyes are No. 3 nationally at 1.7.
“I’m not going to lie to you: it’s a great feeling,” Key, who set the tone with an emphatic dunk to open the scoring, said of this current run. “We also have another game in a week. We’ve got to close this game out quick, watch film but we’re going to celebrate this win, for sure.”
Here are five other takeaways from Ohio State’s win against Michigan.
Bruce Thornton can dunk
Ohio State came up short of its season high for dunks, but that didn’t take away from Bruce Thornton’s highlight play in the final minutes of the first half. With the Buckeyes leading 23-21, the sophomore threw down a one-handed dunk.
The right-handed flush was Thornton’s first of the season, and it elicited an eruption from the Ohio State bench. Key, who was not on the court at the time, ran to nearly midcourt and had to be sent back to the bench by Diebler to avoid getting a technical foul.
“I’ve challenged Bruce,” Diebler said. “Since I’ve known him he’s always told me how he can dunk and I’ve said I’ve never really seen it in a game. That was impressive. I’m sure I will forever hear about that. I can never talk to him (now).”
Thornton led the Buckeyes with 17 points on 3-of-8 shooting. He was perfect on 10 free-throw attempts, drew a game-high seven fouls and committed just one in 32:12.
“He doesn’t get credit for the complete athlete he is because he’s not making a ton of plays above the rim, but he’s a phenomenal athlete,” Diebler said. “He works really, really hard to stay in great condition and be able to maximize his ability.”
Ohio State proving it can play with some pace
Time and time again, Ohio State found itself pushing the ball in transition and finishing with a made basket. By the end of the game, the Buckeyes had a 22-2 advantage in fast-break points.
Some of that was courtesy of 18 Michigan turnovers courtesy of a season-high 14 steals by the Buckeyes that they turned into 27 points, but it also continued a recent run of fast-break scoring. The 22 points were a season high for the Buckeyes, doubling up all but one other game this season. Ohio State’s previous season high was 13 in the 92-81 win against No. 17 Alabama on Nov. 24.
The Buckeyes are averaging 6.3 points per game on fast-break opportunities, a number that’s taken an upward tick with Diebler in charge. In 24 games with Holtmann, Ohio State averaged 5.2 fast-break points a game and had four games with zero.
In five games with Diebler, Ohio State is averaging 11.8, more than double its prior season average.
“It is hard in this league with this coaching in this league and the experience in this league to score over and over again in the half court,” Diebler said. “You’ve got to try and create mismatches with pace at times and our guys have embraced that.”
Some of that has come from the defense, which has improved to No. 80 in adjusted defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com at 101.8 points allowed per 100 possessions. During this three-game winning streak, Ohio State has held each opponent below 100 points per 100 possessions, its longest streak against high-major competition this year.
Better defense has led to more transition opportunities against teams unable to always set their half-court defense.
“It makes our offense a lot easier when we get transition buckets,” guard Dale Bonner said. “We don’t have to work as hard when we get stops on defense and all buy in as a collective. It makes our job easier.”
Beating Michigan meant something extra
There were multiple storylines for Ohio State entering this game. A win would continue this strong close to the season and keep any March Madness hopes alive. It was also obviously senior day and a chance to send the class out with a final home victory.
That all factored into the day, but not as much as the name of the opponent.
“We’ve really tried to focus on the task at hand and this game is special because it’s the team up north,” Diebler said. “That’s real. We leaned into this game as one game against our rival.”
Key said the Buckeyes owed the Wolverines for Michigan’s 73-65 win in Ann Arbor on Jan. 15. Howard said he knew his team would get Ohio State’s best shot because of the history between the schools.
“It’s a rivalry game,” he said. “Rivalry always gets you going because you see a team that you do not care for too much, you’re going to go out there and give it your best. That’s exactly what we did when they were in our building.”
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The bench might be all right
A starting lineup featuring four seniors including a walk-on meant that some of Ohio State’s scoring statistics would inherently be skewed. Still, there was a surprise performance that underscored a growing ability for the Buckeyes to get a more varied offensive attack than in previous games.
“For us to score 84 points and Jamison have 8 on five field-goal attempts, I wouldn’t have been able to anticipate that,” Diebler said.
After Battle had a season-high 32 points on 9-of-18 shooting against Nebraska, he finished 3 for 5 in 28:16 against the Wolverines as eleven Ohio State players scored against Michigan. After scoring 9 points against Nebraska on Thursday, freshman Scotty Middleton had 8 against Michigan, marking his most prolific two-game scoring stretch of the season. Classmate Devin Royal had 6 points. Sophomore Roddy Gayle, who came off the bench due to senior day, had 15 on 6-of-10 shooting.
“We have a lot of starting-quality players on this team,” Diebler said. “Guys are stepping up, they’re playing with confidence, which is helping that. We’ve got a lot of different ways we can score the ball. It speaks to the versatility of this team.”
Opening play was scripted for Owen Spencer
Diebler opened the game with his four seniors on the floor. For Key, it was the 49th start of his four-year career at Ohio State. Jamison Battle has started every game in his five-year career save for two during his freshman season at George Washington in 2019-20. Bonner started Thursday night against Nebraska as Bruce Thornton (migraine) missed his first-ever game.
Walk-on center Owen Spencer, though, hadn’t played all season. The 6-9, 215-pound Cincinnati native had battled a foot injury for the first half of the year and had not gotten off the bench since his return to full availability. After two seasons at The Citadel and one with the Buckeyes, Spencer had totaled 30 appearances, seven of which came last year in his first year with the Buckeyes.
Sunday, he was on the court for the opening tip. Key took it, but the opening play was designed for the walk-on.
“He earned the right,” Diebler said. “He deserved to start. We tried to run a play for him, the first play.”
It didn’t work, though, and Battle badly missed a 3-pointer on the opening possession. Spencer subbed out after committing a foul with 18:57 left in the half, but Diebler put him back in with 3:31 to play and the Buckeyes leading 76-52. He finished 0 for 2 from the floor and had three fouls in 4:34.
“You guys don’t get to see how important he is to our program,” Diebler said. “Think about this now: you go to practice every day and you’re battling Zed Key and Felix and Austin Parks and then you don’t get to go get the reward of playing on game day a lot. His love for this program is real.
“I wanted him to get a basket so bad. It was an easy decision because of what he’s about and how much he’s poured into this program. He’s really important to this program and we needed to honor that.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bruce Thornton dunks and Ohio State runs: 6 takeaways from Michigan win
