The Ohio State Buckeyes Men's Basketball team got a huge and necessary win over the USC Trojans on Wednesday night after a public callout from AD Ross Bjork.
The Ohio State Buckeyes' Men's Basketball team has its back firmly against the wall, and they responded on Wednesday Night with a big 89-82 win over the USC Trojans.
The Buckeyes have yet again authored a very disappointing season to this point in the season. Sitting at 15-8, they welcomed in the Trojans for a midweek matchup that was also a must-win game. Add in the fact that they were publicly called out just one day earlier, and they needed to get the job done.
They answered the bell.
The game got off to a scorching hot start, and at the first break, the Trojans led 43-40. Ohio State would come out and trim the lead, and for the first 15 minutes of the half, the game stayed within five points either way.
Then, with five minutes to go in the game, the Buckeyes started their run, and it was fueled by their defense.
© Adam Cairns/Columbus | 2026 Feb 11 The Buckeyes locked down on the defensive side and forced a couple of missed shots and a couple of turnovers to orchestrate an 8-0 run to run their lead to nine.
Christoph Tilly, Bruce Thornton, Amare Bynu,m and Devin Royal all chipped in a bucket to help Ohio State create the lead.
The Buckeyes needed to hold on for the final 3:30 minutes, and they did just that.
USC cut the Buckeyes' lead all the way down to 2, but the Buckeyes showed incredible toughness to stop the run. A long delay for a shot clock malfunction made the final few minutes a little bit choppy but it didn't matter.
A Bruce Thornton tough "and-one" pushed Ohio State's lead to 85-81, and that was the final nail in the coffin.
This Ohio State victory came at the perfect time, as just 24 hours before, they were publicly challenged by their athletic director Ross Bjork.
On the 11 Warriors Podcast, Bjork called the Buckeyes' Basketball program out,
"We need to be in the tournament, that's not just the minimum standard. We want to be in the tournament and then make a long run... That's what Ohio State has done before. There's no reason why we cannot do that again."
If that feels like the seat is heating up on Jake Diebler and the Buckeyes basketball program, it's because it is. For as good as the Buckeyes' football program has been, their basketball program has been equally disappointing.
The last time they reached the tournament was in 2022, when they won just one game and then came up short in the Round of 32 against Villanova.
The Buckeyes need to make the tournament and try to make a run in it. Wednesday night's win over USC was a good start at it.