Buckeyes open season with upset win over No. 19 Texas

COLUMBUS — Ohio State opened the Jake Diebler era with a massive season-opening win over No. 19 Texas.

Turns out Diebler’s first win as the permanent head coach is also a win over a ranked team. Yes, the Buckeyes went to Las Vegas for a late-night tipoff against the Longhorns and came back to Columbus with an 80-72 win.

“There aren’t very many programs across the country who signed up to play a game like this on day 1 of college basketball,” Diebler told reporters after the win. “I was proud of our guys. They showed up under the bright lights on a huge stage. This should validate how we’ve practiced and help us continue to practice well.”

Ohio State shot 14-of-28 from 3-point range, a remarkable stat for a team that never had more than 13 3-point makes in a game last season.

Star point guard and a preseason first-team All-Big Ten selection Bruce Thornton‘s 20 points were a team high, and San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish added 17 to help lift Ohio State. Central Ohio native and second-year forward Devin Royal had 16, as well.

The Buckeyes beat Texas despite getting a poor shooting performance from Meechie Johnson, who was just 2 of 11 from the field. He finished with just six points — and Ohio State won anyway.

But one of the biggest developments was the shooting of freshman guard Juni Mobley. The freshman point guard, and former four-star, No. 54 overall recruit from the class of 2024, was 4 of 4 from 3-point range. He had 14 points for the Buckeyes to give them four players in double figures.

“Juni got it going,” Diebler said. “And when he gets it going, I feel like he plays with a basket that’s twice the size of what it actually is. He’s got to have some freedom to be able to do that.”

Ohio State will have a full week off before its next game, that coming at home against Youngstown State. The rest of the month of November has some intriguing matchups for the Buckeyes:

Nov. 11 vs. Youngstown State
Nov. 15 at No. 20 Texas A&M
Nov. 19 vs. Evansville
Nov. 22 vs. Campbell
Nov. 25 vs. Green Bay
Nov. 29 vs. Pittsburgh

Ohio State already has a win over a ranked team for an early-season resume booster. The Buckeyes are already in the win column with Jake Diebler’s debut — a win over No. 19 Texas in Las Vegas.

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