Former Ohio State assistant Jeff Boals and the Ohio Bobcats took the 80-mile trip up state route 33 this morning to square off with Ohio State in a preseason exhibition, as both teams prepare for the beginning of the regular season on November 3. It was a ticketed, public game, with several thousand in attendance to see the two in-state programs face each other for the first time since 2013.
Sunday’s game was a regulation, 40-minute contest, and Ohio State used the same starting five that they’re
expected to roll out next Monday against IU Indy. Bruce Thornton and John Mobley started at the guard spots, with Devin Royal, Brandon Noel, and Christoph Tilly starting at small forward, power forward, and center.
The Bobcats hung around for about 10 minutes, taking a 24-21 lead halfway through the first half. It was all Buckeyes from there, however, and Ohio State road a 15-point halftime lead to a 29-point win in their final tuneup before the regular season begins, 103-74
Tilly was especially impressive, scoring 14 points and dishing out a team-high seven assists. Wright State transfer Brandon Noel scored 18, and freshman A’mare Bynum also scored 13 points, including a trio of three-pointers.
Rather than an in-depth play-by-play, here are a few observations that may be of interest to Ohio State fans as we inch closer to real basketball games next week.
Christoph Tilly is a smart basketball player
I won’t act like one game against a mid-tier MAC opponent is an appropriate litmus test to tell if Ohio State’s new center is going to be able to hang in the Big Ten, but Christoph Tilly looked fantastic against the Bobcats on Sunday. He scored 14 points, and even when he wasn’t scoring himself, he was creating for others either by feeding directly into made baskets or using off-ball movement to open space and lanes for teammates to score. The senior from Germany had seven assists and five rebounds (three offensive), and did not turn the ball over. It looked like the seven-footer had eyes in the back of his head, and knew where everyone was at all times when he was on the floor.
The ball movement was real, but so were the turnovers
Seven different Buckeyes registered first-half assists on Sunday, and as a team Ohio State assisted on 72% of its made field goals in the first half. 20 minutes against one MAC team in the preseason isn’t going to hold for the entire year, but just as an example, Utah had the highest assist rate in the nation last season at 65.6%. The best Big Ten team in assist rate last season was Minnesota at 61.2%. Ohio State was No. 282 in the country last year in assist rate at 47.9%.
While they were moving the ball around quite a bit to get open shots, some of those passes were a little bit loose, resulting in nine first-half turnovers. Bruce Thornton, who averaged 1.5 turnovers per game last year, had two in the first half. John Mobley Jr. had three in the first half as well, including a fast break lob to Brandon Noel that got to the basket a few steps before Noel did. At the next dead ball, Diebler pulled Mobley aside and was pointing to his head, assumedly suggesting he use it next time.
Ohio State turned the ball over five more times in the second half, finishing with 14. They finished the game assisting on 26 of their 35 made field goals.
Ivan Njegovan looked more than competent as a backup
Njegovan, a 7-foot-2, 260-pound sophomore center, struggled in limited minutes last season, averaging 1.6 points and 1.5 assists per game. He appeared in 21 of Ohio State’s 32 games last year, but typically looked like he was playing at a speed much slower than the game going on around him. He struggled to hold on to the ball, and repeatedly lowered it in the post despite being the tallest man on the floor.
Keeping in mind that it was a pre-season game against Ohio, Njegovan looked much more confident on Sunday. He looked more decisive when he got the ball, kept it high, and was mixing it up for offensive and defensive rebounds. He also knocked down two free throws in the second half to win the race to 69, putting the Buckeyes up 69-52 with 12:36 left in the game. He finished the game with 10 points, six rebounds, and three assists. He also turned the ball over three times.
Ohio State was a little sloppy and still won easily
We aren’t going to dig too deep into the final score, because the game was more about refining things and smoothing out the edges before the season actually begins, but Ohio State was never truly challenged by OU on Sunday, despite some sloppy stretches at times. There was a stretch during the first half where Ohio State turned the ball over four times in just under two minutes, and the Buckeyes weren’t particularly great from beyond the three-point line. Ohio State still pulled ahead by double-digits with 1:21 left in the first half and never looked back. The competition will get stiffer, but the Ohio State offense was humming, particularly when all five starters were on the floor.
A’mare Bynum might be a one-and-done guy
Bynum, who is 18 years old, stands 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, was 3-for-5 from three, grabbed three rebounds, had two assists, and recorded two steals. He might not start a game for Ohio State this season, but Bynum looks like someone that NBA teams are going to be scouting as the season goes on because of his combination of size and shooting. To be able to do those things as a freshman would make him an even more appealing NBA draft prospect for the 2026 NBA Draft.
