COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State senior point guard Bruce Thornton needs 12 points against Indiana on Saturday to become the Buckeyes’ career scoring leader.
That achievement would be memorable in any era but is unique nowadays.
He came to Ohio State as a four-star recruit in a top-10 signing class for former coach Chris Holtmann in 2022, but Holtmann and the rest of the class are long gone.
Holtmann was fired before the end of the 2023-24 season, three transferred out and Brice Sensabaugh is in his third season in the NBA.
Thornton knows as well as anyone that type of attrition has become normal in the age of name, image and likeness payments and players being able to transfer without penalty in most cases.
“Money started becoming a huge issue, playing time and people coming and going — you just don’t know what’s going to be next,” Thornton said. “But at the end of the day, you just got to worry about yourself and just make sure you focus, and you can be the best version you can each and every day.
“I feel like I put myself in a good position.”
Nonetheless, the decision to stay got the attention of many in the game, including Purdue coach Matt Painter.
“He’s what college basketball is all about,” Painter said after his team lost to Ohio State 82-74 on March 1. “He could’ve ran. He could’ve transferred. He could have done all that stuff. He stayed. He competed. He’s fought to be in this position.
“Now he’s all about Ohio State. He just wants to win. Good for him.”
Painter’s praise came after Michigan State coach Tom Izzo shared a similar sentiment, and that does not surprise Ohio State coach Jake Diebler.
“I think the special thing about Bruce, he doesn’t need validation for what he decided. Like, this is what he wanted and this is what he chose,” Diebler said Friday. “It’s been great for him, so that’s special, but his career should be celebrated across the country because it defies the norm. And I think that you’re seeing coaches celebrate it because we all want players like that.”
Thornton scored 371 points as a freshman, 550 as a sophomore, 566 last season and has 598 so far as a senior.
Dennis Hopson set the Ohio State career scoring record in 1987, passing Herb Williams late in his senior season to finish with 2,096 points.
“If you told me my freshman year I would do something like this, I’d be like ‘OK, get out of my face. It’s probably not going to happen,’” Thornton said. “But God works in mysterious ways, man, and it’s definitely a blessing. I do everything I can to win the game, and if it calls on me to break the record, it calls on me breaking the record.”
An NCAA Tournament bid could also be on the line Saturday.
Indiana (18-12, 9-10 Big Ten) and Ohio State (20-11, 11-8) have similar NCAA Tournament resumes. Many bracket projections have the Hoosiers and Buckeyes among the last teams to receive an at-large bid at this point.
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