Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal combined for 52 points, propelling Ohio State over Wisconsin for its first ranked win of the season.

Coach Jake Diebler and the Buckeyes entered dangerous territory after a gut-wrenching loss to UVA this past weekend. The road didn’t get any easier tonight as Ohio State hosted No. 24 Wisconsin, fresh off a road win against then fifth-ranked Illinois and a 21-point drubbing of Michigan State. Needless to say, Ohio State was going to have its hands full tonight.

Ohio State came out strong. Christoph Tilly fought through traffic for a layup to open scoring for the Buckeyes. After this, the Buckeye barrage would ensue. Amare Bynum sunk a three at the 17:30 mark, then Royal on the following possession, plus a layup on the succeeding possession, putting OSU up 12-6. Bruce Thornton had 4 assists by the 14:43 mark. Thornton and Royal traded threes on back-to-back possessions to make it 22-10 Ohio State with thirteen minutes remaining in the half.

Devin Royal was the story of the half for the Buckeyes, going on an absolute tear. By the 12:49 mark, Royal was 6-6 with 14 points and a pair of threes in the process. This couldn’t be a more welcome sight for Ohio State without John Mobley Jr., who is out indefinitely, and Bruce Thornton shouldering too much of the load offensively against UVA.

Ohio State continued to put on a show from deep and finished the half, sinking 6 shots from behind-the-arc while shooting at a 47% clip. Wisconsin could not keep up with the Buckeyes, forcing low-percentage shots throughout the half, which paid dividends. 14 of Wisconsin’s 17 points were by way of the paint at the 7:41 mark.

The Badgers would cut the lead to 6 with John Blackwell’s three-pointer at the 6:49 mark. However, a late run by the Buckeyes, headlined by an Amare Bynum rejection, extended the lead back up to 38-26 with 1:40 remaining in the half, forcing a Wisconsin timeout. OSU proceeded to force a shot-clock violation with 35 seconds remaining in the half and headed into the locker room with that same 12-point advantage. Devin Royal led the way on offense with 16 points.

The second half would be more of the same for the Buckeyes. Devin Royal continued his scoring prowess, amassing 25 points. However, the man with the cape was Bruce Thornton tonight. Twenty-four second-half points for Thornton as he blew past Jerry Lucas and William Buford on the all-time scoring list to move into third place. In addition, he flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 9 rebounds and 8 assists.

Jake Diebler on Bruce Thornton:

🗣️ “Bruce is an every rep guy, not an every day guy. He does everything with excellence.”

Thornton had 27-9-8 tonight and moved into third on Ohio State’s all-time scoring list 🔥 pic.twitter.com/jONaQEyCV7

— Blake T. Biscardi (@BlakeBiscardi) February 18, 2026

Those rebound and assist numbers are a major testament to the pressure being taken off Thornton’s shoulders from a scoring perspective. It was very evident against UVA that even though he was able to rack up points, he was tremendously tired down the stretch. The burden was felt in other areas of not only his game but also the overall operation of the team.

Devin Royal deserves a lot of credit for this. It was evident that when Royal went on his early run, it opened up the offense for Ohio State, and the slew of threes and scoring runs followed.

Watch Jake Diebler’s full post-game remarks here:

The Buckeyes came away with an enormous win for their tournament resume, beating No. 24 Wisconsin 86-69. There isn’t much time for rest, however, as Ohio State heads up to East Lansing this Sunday to take on No. 15 Michigan State at 1:00 PM on CBS.