Ohio State’s men’s basketball season opened with a loss Monday night, as No. 25 BYU rode a dominant second half to a 94-83 win over the Buckeyes at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Ohio State (0-1) did not trail at any point in the first half and led by as many as 11 points, but the Cougars (1-0) outscored the Buckeyes 60-44 after halftime.
BYU shot 20 of 29 from the floor in the second half, a 69 percent clip, and repeatedly drove through the paint as the game wore on, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Rob Wright III led the Cougars with 33 points on 9-of-15 shooting, and Ohio State never found a consistent answer for him.
The Buckeyes still led 57-55 with about 12 minutes left before BYU blew the game open with a 16-4 run, capped by two free throws from Bruce Branch III with 7:25 remaining. A 3-pointer by Amare Bynum briefly cut the deficit to four points, but it proved to be only a blip as the Cougars closed out the win in front of what amounted to a home crowd, with BYU’s Provo campus about 40 miles from the arena.
It was Ohio State’s first game without point guard Bruce Thornton, the program’s all-time leading scorer, whom the Buckeyes relied on heavily over the last four seasons, according to 247Sports. John Mobley Jr. is among the players expected to help fill that role this season.
The opener came on the same night the wider Ohio State athletic department was absorbing a difficult weekend: the football Buckeyes fell 30-18 at USC on Saturday and dropped to No. 11 in the Associated Press poll, their first week outside the top 10 since September 2021.
For the basketball Buckeyes, the takeaway from Salt Lake City was clear: a strong first half showed the new-look roster can play with a ranked opponent, but the defense that surrendered 60 second-half points has to tighten quickly. Ohio State’s next step is to regroup, correct the breakdowns that let BYU score on eight straight possessions during the decisive run, and get its first win of the 2026-27 season.
Photo: Cbusram, CC BY-SA