Ohio State walked away with an 86-74 win over UCLA on Saturday, but look past the final score and you’ll find a growing concern that’s starting to define the Buckeyes’ season: the bench-or more accurately, the lack of it.
Against the Bruins, UCLA’s reserves logged 66 minutes. Ohio State’s?
Just 30. And this isn’t a one-off.
In four of the Buckeyes’ five games this January, opponents have leaned on their benches more heavily than OSU has. Nebraska, like UCLA, more than doubled Ohio State’s bench minutes.
The result? A lopsided 91-29 scoring advantage for opposing benches in those five games.
This isn’t just a footnote-it’s a trend. And it’s one that's become even more glaring since forward Brandon Noel, the Buckeyes’ go-to sixth man, has been sidelined.
Without Noel, head coach Jake Diebler has had little choice but to stretch his starters’ minutes. But as the Big Ten grind intensifies and March creeps closer, you have to wonder: how sustainable is this?
Against UCLA, Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr. each played 38 minutes-95% of the game. Amare Bynum and Christoph Tilly both logged 32, and Devin Royal was on pace for that many too before fouling out late, capping a 22-point performance.
Thornton’s used to this kind of workload-he averaged 36.2 minutes last season and is sitting at 36.3 this year-but for Mobley, Bynum, and Tilly, this is new territory. Mobley’s minutes are up from 27.8 a year ago to 29.6.
Bynum is a freshman still adjusting to the college game. Tilly’s never averaged more than 22.6 minutes per game before this season.
That’s a heavy lift for three players still growing into their roles.
“We lean on sports science,” Diebler said after the win. “We’re very efficient with our time, and we have a great staff who helps us recover every day.”
That’s the plan for now. But the long-term solution?
It has to come from the bench. And Diebler knows it.
He’s not asking for perfection-he’s asking for aggression. That’s the word he keeps coming back to.
On offense, he wants his reserves to attack, even if it means making mistakes. On defense, it’s about execution and effort.
If they can bring that, the rotation can finally start to deepen.
“What I’m evaluating when the game is going on is, are they being aggressive?” Diebler said.
“They can make mistakes. Just make them aggressive ones.
And then defensively, let’s execute at a high level, let’s communicate and let’s show tremendous fight.”
Right now, Gabe Cupps is the only bench player who’s had a breakout moment in Big Ten play. He scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting in a road win at Oregon earlier this month.
But on the season, he’s averaging just 1.9 points and 1.4 assists in 19.9 minutes per game. His calling card is effort-he defends, he hustles, and he fits into the three-guard lineups Diebler’s been using more often since Noel’s injury.
Still, that trio-Cupps, Thornton, and Mobley-comes with some size concerns.
“I think Bruce plays a lot bigger than he is,” Diebler said. “He’s so physically strong and tough, and he anticipates so well.
Gabe’s provided some pressure on the ball, which has been really good. The biggest question we have in that group is rebounding.”
That rebounding issue is where Ivan Njegovan comes in. The big man has become Ohio State’s most efficient rebounder, pulling down 11.3 boards per 40 minutes.
Tilly, the next closest, is at 7.9. But Njegovan’s offensive game is still a work in progress-he leads the team in turnovers per 40 minutes (3.3).
Still, he scored OSU’s only two bench points against UCLA and is shooting a solid 66.7% on the season (16-of-24).
Beyond Cupps and Njegovan, it’s a mix of potential and inconsistency. Guard Taison Chatman has shown flashes on offense, but his defensive lapses have limited his minutes.
Small forward Colin White brings some defensive value, but he’s shooting just 35.3% from the field. Still, Diebler isn’t giving up on either.
“We had a game where we had some guys on the bench who didn’t take a single shot in, like, 21 combined minutes,” he said. “That hasn’t been the case anymore.
So that’s a step in the right direction. And some of those guys, Taison, Colin, they see one go in and it’s a different ballgame now.
So we’ve got a high-level belief in those guys.”
There’s one more wild card in the mix: Puff Johnson. The former Penn State wing is trying to secure a sixth year of eligibility through a lawsuit against the NCAA. A temporary restraining order has allowed him to join the Buckeyes midseason, and a hearing on Jan. 30 will determine whether he can stay eligible.
Johnson averaged 10.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game last season for the Nittany Lions. If he can get back into game shape and sync with the Buckeyes’ system, he could be a major lift for a thin rotation.
“As far as when he’s gonna be on the floor, I don’t know,” Diebler said. “He’s gotta go through some things to get cleared at Ohio State. He and I have had conversations, certainly, and we’re hoping to get him here as soon as we possibly can and begin that process of him becoming part of our team.”
For now, the Buckeyes are living on the edge-riding their starters hard and hoping the bench starts to catch up. It worked against UCLA.
But come February and March, when legs get heavy and games get tighter, they’ll need more than just hope. They’ll need production.