Nebraska MBB Preview and Game Thread: Ohio State

Date: Tuesday March 4th, 2025

Tipoff: 8 p.m. (CT)

Location: Value City Arena (Columbus, Ohio)

Radio: Tuesday’s game will be carried on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jake Muhleisen on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KXSP (590 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before tipoff and will also be available on Huskers.com and the Huskers app.

TV/Online: Tuesday’s game will be streamed on Peacock with Paul Burmeister and Stephen Bardo on the call. To sign up, visit peacocktv.com.

Series History: Ohio State leads the all-time series, 21-8, in a series that dates back to 1936. The Buckeyes are 17-6 against the Huskers since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011-12, but Nebraska has won four of the past five matchups dating back to March of 2022. Nebraska’s last win in Columbus was on March 1, 2022, an 78-70 win over the No. 23 Buckeyes. In that game, Bryce McGowens had a team-high 26 points while Alonzo Verge Jr. had 13 points and 11 assists.

Preview: Courtesy of Huskers.com

Ohio State heads into the final week of the regular season with a 16-13 record following an 87-82 win at USC on Feb. 26. Coach Jake Diebler is in his first full season after taking over in mid-February. He went 8-3 and guided the Buckeyes to the NIT to remove the interim tag.

The Buckeyes went 8-3 during non-conference action, highlighted by neutral-site wins over Texas and Kentucky. The losses were to Auburn and Texas A&M and a one-point overtime loss to Pittsburgh. In Big Ten Conference play, OSU is 4-5 both at home and on the road. The Buckeyes had lost four of their last five after a win over Maryland on Feb. 6 before the win at USC on the West Coast trip.

OSU averages 78.5 points per game and is one of the Big Ten’s best 3-point shooting teams, averaging 8.1 3-pointers per game on 37.5 percent shooting. The Buckeyes have four players averaging double figures, led by junior guard Bruce Thornton and sophomore Devin Royal. Thornton leads the Buckeyes in scoring (17.4 ppg) and assists (4.3 apg) and sophomore Devin Royal, who averaged 13.3 ppg and a team-high 6.9 rpg. Freshman John Mobley Jr. averages 13.1 ppg and leads the Buckeyes in 3-pointers with 71 while shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line. San Diego State transfer Micah Parrish is the fourth Buckeye in double figures at 12.7 ppg while averaging 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per outing.

Jarek’s Pre-tipoff Thoughts: I mean, this is basically do or die at this point. Nebraska is firmly ensconced on the bubble, and every single game is now “win or go home”. Nebraska’s inability to close out close games has been prevalent as of late. It really has come down to wretched free-throw shooting. Mix in the fact that the last 3 close losses have included desperation shots by Berke Buyuktuncel, Andrew Morgan and Rollie Worster and that’s why Nebraska hasn’t won any of them. I know I should show optimism, but the start of the last 3 road games means this one won’t be close either, and that’s a damn shame knowing what is on the line. Prediction: Ohio State 78 Nebraska 64