Game Day Essentials: Game #30 at Ohio St

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Nebraska Cornhuskers (17-12) vs Ohio State Buckeyes (16-13)

 

Date: Tuesday March 4th, 2025

Time: 8:00 pm CST
Arena:  Value City Arena

Broadcast:  Peacock (Kevin Kugler and Shon Morris)

Ohio State Info

 

Head Coach:  Jake Diebler

Location: Columbus, OH
Conference: B1G
Nickname: Buckeyes

Mascot: Brutus Buckeye

Last time out: Beat USC

Point Spread: Ohio St by 5.5

Typical Rotation Depth: 8+

Nota bene:  

• Jake Diebler parlayed his strong finish as interim coach at the end of last season into the full time job at OSU
• OSU played one of the harder non-cons in the B1G, beating Kentucky and Texas while losing to Texas A&M, Pitt, and Auburn
• While Ohio St is 17-6 vs Nebraska as members of the B1G, Nebraska has won 4 of the last 5
• Ohio St is 1 of 3 B1G teams that Nebraska plays twice this season. The others are Maryland and Iowa.
• Last month Nebraska outlasted Ohio St thanks to Brice Williams' 24 points and Juwan Gary with 19. Micah Parrish led Ohio St with a career high 30 points. Berke would leave the game near the end with an injury after scoring 15 in one of his best games as a Husker. Since that time he's missed 3 games and scored 2 points on 1-16 shooting.
• Ohio St. has been off since last Wednesday's game at USC

 

Player to watch: Bruce Thorton, Jr

The Ohio St PG came into this season as a member of the all-conference pre-season team and has added a consistent 3pt shot to his impressive arsenal, shooting 43.9% from 3 while leading the team in scoring and assists. Thorton is a true 3 level scorer and shoots at a high percentage from anywhere, even shooting 48.0% from mid-range. Bruce Thorton Sr was a NFL cornerback

 

Player to watch: John Mobley

The freshman combo guard has become a bucket for the Buckeyes and has jumped into the startling lineup with Meechie Johnson out of the picture. Mobley leads the team in 3pt attempts, currently hitting on 40.3% of them for the season, and is the type of player where you need to pick him up once he crosses half court. Inside the arc is a different story as he converts at an anemic 34.2% from mid-range and shocking 46.2% at the rim

 

Player to watch: Devin Royal

The bouncy forward leads the team in rebounding and lives at the rim where he converts at a high rate and draws contact. If you can get him to pull up anywhere past the rim you'll live with the results.

 

Ohio State 's Roster

Player	#	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	Summary
Bruce Thornton	2	JR	G	6-2	215	17.4 Pts 3.3 Reb 4.3 Ast
John Mobley	0	FR	G	6-1	175	13.1 Pts 1.6 Reb 2.2 Ast
Devin Royal	21	SO	F	6-6	210	13.3 Pts 6.9 Reb 1.1 Ast
Micah Parrish	8	SR	F	6-6	180	12.7 Pts 4.5 Reb 1.5 Ast
Sean Stewart	13	SO	F	6-9	227	5.6 Pts 5.7 Reb 0.6 Ast
Aaron Bradshaw	4	SO	F	7-0	226	6.4 Pts 2.7 Reb 0.2 Ast
Evan Mahaffey	12	JR	F	6-6	200	3.9 Pts 3.1 Reb 0.9 Ast
Ques Glover	6	SR	G	5-11	182	4.6 Pts 1.5 Reb 1.3 Ast
Meechie Johnson	1	SR	G	6-2	172	9.1 Pts 2.5 Reb 2.7 Ast
Ivan Njegovan	17	FR	C	7-1	250	1.7 Pts 1.6 Reb 0.1 Ast
Colin White	20	FR	F	6-6	205	1.3 Pts 1.0 Reb 0.4 Ast
Austin Parks	25	SO	C	6-10	250	1.4 Pts 0.9 Reb 0.4 Ast
Kalen Etzler	24	JR	F	6-8	200	1.4 Pts 0.6 Reb 0.0 Ast

 

Other Players

 

San Diego St transfer forward Micah Parrish has regained his 3pt stroke, hitting 35.3% on the year; is turnover prone. Thorton, Mobley, Royal, and Parrish log most of the minutes at the 1-4. Duke transfer Sean Stewart typically starts at center where he's a shot blocker/rebounder but is very foul prone. Kentucky transfer Aaron Bradshaw is more of the same though can take a 3.  Croatian freshman Ivan Njegovan is the 3rd string center who has mostly been phased out of the rotation. Samford transfer guard Ques Glover is depth at guard. Forward Evan Mahaffey is a glue guy. Freshman wing Colin White sporadically plays.

 

UNL Game Notes

 

Roster/infirmary report

 

 

Possible starters for Nebraska

3    Guard    Brice Williams     6-7    214 lbs    Senior

1    Guard    Sam Hoiberg     6-0    185 lbs    Junior

4    Forward    Juwan Gary     6-6    226 lbs    Senior

23    Forward    Andrew Morgan     6-10    242 lbs    Senior 

24    Guard    Rollie Worster     6-5    210 lbs    Senior

 

Bench

34    Center    Braxton Meah     7-1    264 lbs    Senior

0    Guard    Connor Essegian     6-4    190 lbs    Junior

2    Guard    Ahron Ulis     6-3    190 lbs    Senior

9    Forward    Berke Büyüktuncel     6-10    244 lbs  Sophomore

31    Guard    Cale Jacobsen     6-4    195 lbs    Sophomore

12    Guard    Gavin Griffiths     6-7    193 lbs    Sophomore

5    Forward    Braden Frager     6-7    220 lbs    Freshman
8    Guard    Jeffrey Grace III     6-3    200 lbs    Junior
20    Forward    Justin Bolis     6-8    225 lbs    Sophomore
25    Guard    Nick Janowski     6-4    208 lbs    Freshman

35    Forward    Henry Burt     6-7    222 lbs    Sophomore

 

Out for year
51    Forward    Rienk Mast     6-10    260 lbs    Senior

 

 

Back against the wall Fred Hoiberg

 

The Skinny: 

For all intents and purposes, tonight's game is a NCAA tournament elimination game.  Both Ohio State and Nebraska find themselves on the bubble as both teams desperately need wins to supplement their current body of work with the added bonus of bursting the other's bubble. There are about 19 or so teams vying for about 9 spots; missed chances for both teams have made this game critical.

 

You could make the argument that Nebraska is best served keeping the score low and trying to pull out a win....which flies in the face of attempting to get off to a fast start.  Perhaps they can split the difference tonight and try to limit the pace/damage against a Buckeye team that would like to get out in transition. It will be interesting to see who they start at center as Meah tends to be a better defender and Morgan more aggressive offensively.  Berke started the last time these two played but has offensively been a trainwreck since returning for injury. 

 

3pt defense will be key against this Ohio St team that doesn't shoot a ton of 3s but shoots them well with freshman John Mobely having Tominaga range. In OSU's last 6 games they've only managed to win the 2 where they've gone nuclear from 3 against Washington and USC.  On the other side, Nebraska seems likely to commit to working inside like they did vs Minnesota as Ohio St remains the most foul prone team in the conference. It's very possible for Nebraska to FT their way to victory.

 

Logically it make sense for Ohio St to win this game at home on 6 day's rest.  We can only hope that Nebraska zags yet again.

 

Prediction: Nebraska 76 - Ohio St 72

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