by The Ohio State men’s basketball team beat Michigan State, 60-57, on Sunday from a go-ahead three-pointer by guard Dale Bonner with less than a second to go. The win brings the Buckeyes to 16-12 on the season and it is their first road win since Jan. 1, 2023.
Interim Head Coach Jake Diebler is now 2-1 in his time running the program since the school fired Chris Holtmann on Feb. 14. After following up their shocking upset over #2 Purdue last weekend with a loss at Minnesota on Wednesday, Diebler looks to have the Buckeyes trending in the right direction.
Going into Sunday’s game though, things looked bleak. Ohio State had not won at Michigan State since 2012 and forward Jamison Battle, who is the team’s second leading scorer, didn’t suit up with an ankle injury. He was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman guard Scotty Middleton who wasn’t particularly effective, scoring three points in 21 minutes.
A key contributor who did step up in Battle’s absence, however, was freshman forward Devin Royal. Royal was the team’s leading scorer with 14 points, a career-high, in 18 minutes off the bench. After playing only sparingly entering the year, Royal has really carved out a role for himself as of late. He has slid into the backup power forward spot and while he is not particularly tall at 6’6’’, he uses his athleticism and strength to do a lot of the dirty work down low. One of Michigan State’s key weaknesses all year has been their lack of a post presence, and Royal’s outburst only exploited that. The Spartans struggled to keep track of him all day, as Royal consistently punished them with a blend of post-ups and elbow jumpers.
Another encouraging takeaway from the night is that the Buckeyes were able to win without their big three of Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle Jr., and Battle being overly dominant. A consistent formula that teams have used to beat Ohio State this year has been to deny the stars and make the other guys beat them, and the Buckeyes finally were able to get around that. Thornton and Gayle combined for 23 points on 7-23 shooting in a game where Spartans’ guards AJ Hoggard and Tyson Walker were consistently trying to not let either of them catch the ball all day long. In addition to Royal’s surge, Felix Okpara was able to score 10 points and bring down six rebounds. His presence, especially on the defensive end shut down Michigan State’s centers and made it difficult for the guards to finish at the rim.
The contributions of Bonner should not go unnoticed as well, as things might look a lot differently if his game-winner didn’t go in and the game went to overtime. Bonner has been under scrutiny all year for his shooting struggles and lack of effectiveness when on the floor at both guard spots, but his experience kept him on the floor in the biggest moment and it paid off for Diebler and the rest of the team.
Looking ahead, the next few weeks will be crucial for the direction of the program. If he can keep the success up, Diebler could be playing himself into contention for a chance at removing the interim tag and becoming the full-time head coach. Many big names such as Dusty May, Lamont Paris, and Greg McDermott have all been linked to the program, but after beating the two highest ranked teams in the Big Ten in the preseason in Purdue and Michigan State, Diebler has added his name to the list.
With only three games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes cannot afford to take anymore losses in the regular season. Luckily, they will not face any more teams ranked in the AP Top 25, as they take on Nebraska and Michigan at home on Thursday and Sunday, respectively, before finishing up at Rutgers next week. To enter the bubble conversation for the NCAA Tournament, Ohio State will need to win all three of those games and make a run in the conference tournament to even be considered. All hope is not yet lost, though, as everyone remembers the shock run that last year’s team made all the way to the semifinals as the #13 seed in the conference tournament. To deem this season a success, the Buckeyes will need some of that magic that comes around each and every March.
