Ohio State enters 2025–26 with a clear tension that will define Jake Diebler’s second full season. Lean into the offensive momentum created by a returning trio of high-usage scorers, Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr. and Devin Royal, or force a cultural and schematic pivot toward the kind of consistent, physical defense the Big Ten demands?
The answer won’t be aesthetic. It will be practical.
Roster construction, health at the five, and how quickly Diebler can make “pace and poise” coexist with tougher
on-ball and rim defense. To understand why this is the program’s central question, you have to connect last season’s numbers, who’s back, what the staff added, and where the Buckeyes are thin.
Ohio State’s baseline: last year in cold numbers
Ohio State closed the 2024–25 season at 17–15 (9–11 Big Ten), a record that reflected both its offensive promise and defensive shortcomings.
The Buckeyes finished 30th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, per KenPom, showing a unit capable of generating points at a high level. But on the other end, their adjusted defensive efficiency ranked just 50th, exposing a vulnerability that often turned shootouts into losses.
That imbalance defined the year, stretches of strong offense offset by defensive lapses that ultimately kept Ohio State from sustaining momentum or securing an NCAA Tournament berth.
What that looks like on the roster: who’s back and who matters most
Ohio State returns the nucleus that produced most of its offense. Bruce Thornton (team-leading 17.7 points per game in 2024–25), freshman breakout John Mobley Jr. (roughly 13.0 ppg, elite 3-point volume and accuracy for a freshman) and Devin Royal (13.7 ppg, team-best 6.9 rebounds per game).
Those three accounted for more than half the team’s scoring and are the simplest reason Diebler could lean into offense, you don’t have to rebuild continuity at the top of the rotation if your top scorers choose to return.
But the Buckeyes’ frontcourt and depth picture are more complicated. Ohio State added a slate of transfers designed to shore up size, experience and physicality, 7-foot center Christoph Tilly (Santa Clara), veteran Wright State forward Brandon Noel, plus Baylor big Josh Ojianwuna, the latter’s availability clouded by an ACL recovery.
The official roster lists those newcomers alongside freshmen such as A’mare Bynum, international wing Mathieu Grujicic, and others like Gabe Cupps and Myles Herro, giving the staff options but also new chemistry questions. If Ojianwuna’s recovery lingers or Tilly oscillates between reliability and shortfalls, the Buckeyes may lack the consistent rim deterrence and rebounding they need to sustain a defense-first identity.
Diebler’s stated identity and what the staff seems to want
Diebler’s public messaging has been steady, play with “pace and poise,” value relationships and buy into effort defense. He has repeatedly emphasized tempo and taking advantage of transition opportunities while also pressing the team to clean up defensive fundamentals (closeouts, communication, limiting fouls).
That dual emphasis is not a contradiction, it’s a balancing act. But turning the rhetoric into a consistent defensive baseline, a team that limits opponents’ high-value chances inside the arc and on the glass, requires personnel who can execute and sustain physicality for 40 minutes.
Diebler has said as much in media sessions and offseason interviews.
Scheme and personnel: why the “defense vs. offense” choice isn’t binary
Schemes that prioritize defense typically demand size, switchability and disciplined help principles, schemes that prioritize offense want spacing, secondary creation and shot-creation freedom for go-to scorers. Ohio State’s personnel pushes both directions.
On paper, the Buckeyes can run a high-volume offense built around Thornton’s isolation scoring and Mobley’s spacing and playmaking, with Royal attacking closeouts as a pick-and-pop / short-roll finisher. That profile favors a pace-up attack that produces efficient possessions.
But the Big Ten trenches expose offenses that lack rebound resilience and rim protection. If Ohio State wants to impose a defensive identity, it must get high-value minutes from one of its bigs consistently (Tilly, Ojianwuna, Ivan Njegovan, Brandon Noel) and demand better perimeter containment from its guards.
The roster construction suggests the Buckeyes can be elite in short spurts offensively, while becoming a reliably good defensive team is more contingent on depth and health (especially at center). New team additions improve the chance of defensive improvement, Tilly and Noel bring post physicality, but neither is a finished product who single-handedly flips a team’s defensive floor overnight.
Advanced metrics and the practical trade-offs
KenPom’s adjusted metrics from 2024–25 show Ohio State’s offense was above average nationally while its defense ranked lower, a statistical portrait of an offense-first team that conceded too many efficient opponent possessions.
Pace helped the Buckeyes score, but pace without defensive stops or offensive rebounding can be self-defeating, more possessions increase variance, and the Big Ten punishes teams that fail to secure the glass and limit opponent second-chance points. Turning a middling defensive efficiency into an above average one would likely raise the team’s win total more reliably than marginal offensive gains.
In other words, the most leverage for margin-of-victory improvement is defense-first because of the Buckeyes’ current defensive base.
Personnel scenarios that decide the identity
• If the Buckeyes get healthy, reliable minutes from a true rim protector/elite rebounder (Tilly/Ojianwuna/Noel or a breakout Njegovan/Bynum mix) — Ohio State can comfortably emphasize offense without the defensive liability, transition scoring and Thornton/Mobley isolation will win more games because the team can hold opponents to one or two possessions per trip inside.
The staff’s current additions were targeted to provide that possibility.
• If the frontcourt remains banged up or inconsistent — Diebler will be forced to throttle tempo, play more position-less lineups, and prioritize half-court defense to limit opponent chances. That may reduce the raw offensive output but should stabilize wins.
It will also force more playmaking responsibilities onto Mobley and increase the value of role defenders who can communicate and rebound.
• A hybrid approach (the likeliest) — Push the tempo in transition and early offense when Thornton or Mobley can initiate, then settle into a compact, disciplined half-court offense and defense. Executing this plan demands full buy-in, steady rotation minutes from bigs to control the glass and protect the paint, and meaningful contributions from versatile wings (Grujicic, A’mare Bynum, Colin White) who can switch, recover, and keep defensive integrity intact.
Matchups and conference context: why the Big Ten punishes slippage
The expanded Big Ten, deeper frontcourts, more physical wings and elite interior scorers, rewards teams that can defend the rim, control offensive rebounding, and contest without fouling. Even the conference’s best offenses are tempered by defenses that win the glass and protect the paint.
Ohio State’s path to a top-half Big Ten finish almost certainly runs through half-court defense improvement, a top-30 offense can only carry you so far when conference opponents increasingly live on second-chance points and efficient two-point looks at the rim.
X-factor additions and narrative swing players
A few names stand out as season-definers. Christoph Tilly is the single most important new face for defensive cred, if he sustains his Santa Clara level of efficient interior scoring and can anchor a credible rim-protection unit, Ohio State gains the ability to play its natural offense without defensive excuses.
Brandon Noel gives the Buckeyes an experienced, physical scorer who can rebound and close possessions. Conversely, Josh Ojianwuna’s ACL recovery timeline looms large, if he returns midseason and is effective, Ohio State flips to a more comfortable defensive posture, if he redshirts or returns slowly, the Buckeyes will have to rely on rotation mix-and-match.
Coaching adjustments and practice priorities that will matter
Diebler has signaled the areas he expects to improve, closeouts, pick-and-roll coverages, foul discipline and rebound effort. Expect fall practice and the non-conference schedule to focus on consistent help rules, switching communication and situational defensive possessions (late-clock defense, out-of-bounds defense, and defensive rebounding drills).
Offensively, the staff will keep designing actions that free Thornton and Mobley, with Royal as the physical finisher, but with a clearer mandate for quick defensive transition recovery. Diebler’s challenge is cultural, get scorers to accept defensive assignments and get bigs to sustain effort over full games.
A realistic season blueprint (what wins look like)
Short term, victories will come where Ohio State executes three things. (1) Thornton and Mobley create early offense and avoid inefficient hero ball, (2) the frontcourt limits second-chance points and contests at the rim, and (3) turnovers are minimized on both ends so the Buckeyes can control possessions.
If those are true, Ohio State can be comfortably above .500 in Big Ten play and push for a middle-tier to upper-middle seed in the tournament. If not, and if the team remains porous inside and on the glass, the offense will still produce big nights, but those will be offset by losses to teams that defend consistently.
Bottom line: what the Buckeyes should be, and why it matters
The clearest path back to the NCAA Tournament and sustainable success is a hybrid identity that begins with defensive baseline improvements and then lets offensive firepower win games. In practical roster terms, Ohio State cannot cavalierly choose “offense-first” without addressing interior defense and rebounding, the transfers Diebler added give him a reasonable shot at creating that defensive baseline, but health (especially Ojianwuna) and role clarity are the most important items.
The Buckeyes’ best bet is to demand effort defense as a non-negotiable, use transitional offense to capitalize on Thornton/Mobley/Royal, and trust the summer and fall work to produce the rotations that limit opponent high-value chances.
If you’re the pragmatic fan, expect an offense that can score with anybody on a good night, and a coaching staff determined to force defensive consistency. Whether the Buckeyes become a defensive identity or remain an offense-first team in 2025–26 will be decided in the first quarter of Big Ten play by how often their bigs win 50/50 battles and how quickly the guards accept locking down on the ball.
That is the defining question for Diebler’s second season in the Buckeye head coaching seat.
