As the Ohio State men’s basketball team gets set to host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the first test of the season, the 3-0 Buckeyes will have one name at the top of the scouting report: Junior guard
Markus Burton.
Burton is one of the top guards in the ACC and is quickly becoming one of the top guards in the country.
As a freshman during the 2023-24 season, Burton averaged 17.5 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 33.8 minutes per game over 33 games. He shot 42.1% from the field, 30.0% from three-point range, and 82.1% from the free-throw line.
Last season as a sophomore, he averaged 21.3 points, 3.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 33.7 minutes per game across 26 games. He shot 44.2 % from the field, 37.5 % from three-point range, and 84.8% from the free throw line.
So far this season, he is averaging 19.3 points, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 rebounds per game on 47.5% shooting from the field. He scored 24, 13, and 21 points in Notre Dame’s three games so far this season.
He was named Third-team All-ACC in 2024 and Second-team All-ACC in 2025. He was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2024 and named to the ACC All-Rookie team in 2024. Burton was a 2023 three-star prospect in Indiana (per 247Sports) and attended Penn High School. He was named Indiana Mr. Basketball as a senior after averaging a state-high 30.3 points per game.
This will take a team effort to slow him down since he is an elite three-level scorer, and we will likely see more of Gabe Cupps in this game since he has been the Buckeyes’ best on-ball defender so far this season. Cupps will have to play his best defense to slow down Burton, but if he does, the Buckeyes will have a great chance to win since Burton is their top scorer by a mile.
In the Fighting Irish’s first two games, Burton only played 27 and 18 minutes in two blowouts, but Eastern Illinois was able to hang around in the third game, and Burton played 38 minutes, where he shot 8-for-19 overall and 1-for-6 from three-point range, scoring 21 points.
He will play nearly all of the game on Sunday as well, likely playing 36-38 minutes and possibly even playing the full 40 since the Fighting Irish do not have a deep rotation. In their last game, only seven guys played 10 or more minutes.
Bruce Thornton and John Mobley will get the start as the guards for Ohio State, and they will be tasked early with the Burton assignment until Cupps, or even Colin White, comes in. The Buckeyes mostly play man-to-man defense, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see some zone defense sprinkled in to try and show Burton some different looks and throw off the Notre Dame offense.
Ohio State has struggled defensively so far this season, as they are ranked No. 87 in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Notre Dame’s offense is ranked No. 58, according to KenPom. However, the Buckeyes are coming of their best defensive game of the season against App State, winning 75-53.
Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler has made it a point that the Buckeyes’ defense has to be better — it was an emphasis this offseason, and this is the best game and player to prove it early on in the season.
