Ohio State fell to No. 15 Michigan State, despite 32 points from Bruce Thornton in another missed opportunity for the short-handed Buckeyes. 

Bruce Thornton led the Ohio State offense with 32 points in a valiant effort that fell short in East Lansing. The Buckeyes will have to wait to add a Quad 1 win to their NCAA Tournament bubble resume with their next opportunity against Iowa on Tuesday.

Ohio State and Michigan State both started the game very slowly, with only 17 combined points at under 12 timeouts. Devin Royal warmed up for the game but was unable to play due to illness. With Royal out, Puff Johnson made his first career start as a Buckeye.

Bruce Thornton started hot, scoring the first seven of the Buckeyes nine points on the afternoon. The Spartans’ size of Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper helped Michigan State secure 7 offensive rebounds in the first 12 minutes, compared to only 9 total rebounds by the Buckeyes.

Christoph Tilly was able to take the ball away from Jordan Scott after a close trap by Taison Chatman and Amare Bynum. This helped lead to a huge driving layup by the captain, Bruce Thornton, which continued the red-hot offense after the Buckeyes started 0/4 from the field. Ohio State needed everyone to contribute, and both Collin White and Gabe Cupps made high-impact plays on both sides of the court.

Cupps drove his shoulder into the paint to create a layup, then on the otherside of the court, White forced a bad pass by Kur Teng. White, on the next possession, got a huge offensive rebound off a Bynum missed layup and drew a foul on Jaxon Kohler, his third of the half. 

Jeremy Fears, the nation’s leader in assists, drew a game-changing foul at the very end of the shot clock to end the Spartans’ cold streak. The half ended with Bruce Thornton surpassing Herb Williams as the second all-time leading scorer in Ohio State history. The Buckeyes held a 26-23 lead at halftime, with Thornton accounting for 16 of the 26. 

Bruce Thornton got the second half started with a pull-up jumper from the free throw line, leading to a Spartan three-point miss. The very next play resulted in a Spartan foul, drawn by Christoph Tilly, where the Buckeyes continued to stay cold, starting 1/6 from the charity stripe. Collin White hit a wide-open three, which was quickly answered by a Jeremy Fears wide-open three off of an offensive rebound from Cooper.

Both teams traded blocks on both ends as well as missed shots, before Taison Chatman tried to stop a Jordan Scott three-point attempt, but clipped his arm. Scott made two of three to help give the Spartans their first lead since the eleven-minute mark in the first half. The Buckeyes went cold from the field, missing five attempts in a row, before Bruce Thornton drained a deep three to tie the game 38-38 at the twelve-minute mark.

Officials reviewed this play between Jeremy Fears and Amare Bynum.

“They’ve ruled nothing egregious.” pic.twitter.com/0bOU4zqp1e

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 22, 2026

Jeremy Fears and the Spartans continued to dominate the glass and the inside of the paint, while Bruce Thornton and Taison Chatman each hit key three-pointers to keep the Buckeyes in the game. Michigan State went on a 6-0 run after an Amare Bynum foul and a controversial play by Jeremy Fears that was not called a foul, which put the Spartans ahead 51-46 at the eight-minute mark.

The Spartans’ momentum kept growing as the game went on. The Ohio State offense couldn’t buy a bucket in six minutes of game time in a crucial moment of the game, with them only being able to get one shot through the net from the ten-minute mark to the four-minute mark in the game. 

Ohio State once again showed its heart at the end of the game. Bruce Thornton and Christoph Tilly helped lead a 7-0 run in the final minute of the game to bring it within one possession with 14 seconds remaining. The second of their last three games was when Ohio State came back in the final minute to come up just short. 

Bruce Thornton’s 32 points were not enough to stop a Michigan State team that has beaten every team by being more physical. The Spartans finished with 16 second-chance points and 15 offensive rebounds, while Ohio State finished with 4 second-chance points and 5 offensive rebounds.

Another close loss for Ohio State, this time at Michigan State. Despite no Devin Royal & John Mobley, Buckeyes will view it as another missed opportunity. Bruce Thornton was sensational, didn’t have enough help.

Final four games: at Iowa, vs. Purdue, at Penn State, vs. Indiana

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 22, 2026

This was a game Ohio State needed to help build its case for an NCAA tournament spot, but being without two of its three best players is not ideal, especially during the largest three-game stretch of the season. This is not the end of the Buckeyes’ postseason hopes, as four games remain, including two Quad 1 games.

There is hope that John Mobley is close to returning from his finger injury, and Devin Royal is recovering from his illness ahead of Tuesday’s matchup in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes.