Ohio State's Bruce Thornton named Big Ten Player of the Week
It’s been a massive week for Ohio State senior guard Bruce Thornton. He helped lead the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball to a pair of victories over Penn State Nittany Lions men’s basketball and Indiana Hoosiers men’s basketball as the Scarlet and Gray look to strengthen their résumé in hopes of earning a berth in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Thornton averaged 21.5 points, 7.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds while shooting an impressive 82.4 percent from the floor across the two games. He also totaled 14 assists without committing a turnover while averaging 35 minutes per game.
In the road win at Penn State, Thornton finished with 18 points and seven assists while shooting 7-of-8 from the floor. He was perfect from beyond the arc and the free throw line, going 2-of-2 from three-point range and 2-of-2 at the line while helping control the tempo of the game.
Thornton followed that performance with a historic Senior Night against Indiana. He scored a game-high 25 points while shooting 7-of-9 from the field and added seven assists, two steals and zero turnovers. During the game, Thornton became Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing the previous program record and cementing his place atop the Buckeyes’ record book.
Thornton now has 2,110 career points and is just six rebounds away from becoming only the second player in Big Ten Conference history with at least 2,000 points, 500 assists and 500 rebounds in a career. He also ranks among the top players in program history in assists and games played, highlighting one of the most productive careers by a guard in Ohio State history.
This is Thornton’s third Big Ten Player of the Week award this season and the fourth of his career. He is just the seventh Buckeye to earn three or more Big Ten Player of the Week honors in the same season and the first since Keita Bates-Diop during his Big Ten Player of the Year season in 2017–18.