Jardy: 3 quick takeaways from Ohio State’s win over USC

Three quick takes from Ohio State’s 89-82 win against USC.

Ohio State needed this one

USC isn’t ranked, and this won’t be a Quad 1 win for Ohio State’s NET rankings, but this was a critical game for the Buckeyes. After losing to Michigan and dropping to 15-8 overall, Ohio State’s need for wins against quality opponents increased another notch as mid-February approaches.

The Trojans are perched right around where the Buckeyes are in most of the metrics, as well as the Big Ten standings, where they entered the game with identical 7-6 records. Now, Ohio State has the head-to-head tiebreaker when it comes to the conference tournament and, critically, added a quality win to its resume.

“It feels very crucial,” Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. “It’s a team with similar metrics.”

It also beats the alternative of taking a two-game losing streak to Nashville for a top-20 game against Virginia on Valentine’s Day.

Bruce Thornton was clutch when the Buckeyes needed him

Ohio State’s senior captain passed Kelvin Ransey for fifth place in the program’s all-time scoring annals, and his most important points came down the stretch. Thornton scored Ohio State’s final nine points, finishing with a team-high 21, helping keep USC at arm’s length in the final 1:34.

Seven of those points came from the free-throw line, where Thornton finished the game perfect on 11 attempts. He also dished out eight of Ohio State’s 14 assists, helping the Buckeyes fend off the Trojans in the final minutes as they made a late charge.

Buckeyes made Alijah Arenas work

Ohio State hasn’t made a mark with its defense this season, but the Buckeyes were able to force USC freshman Alijah Arenas to work for his points. He finished with a game-high 25 points, his third straight outing with at least 20 points, but it took him 19 shots to get there.

Arenas was 6 for 19 from the floor and only 1 for 7 from 3-point range, doing most of his damage from the line. He was 12 for 16 at the charity stripe, drawing eight fouls to lead his team. With Chad Baker-Mazara out due to injury, USC leaned more heavily on Arenas, and the Buckeyes were able to force him into challenged shots with regularity.

Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.