Less than 24 hours is not much time to meditate on a loss. Particularly not one that ends a team’s season.
Emotions simmer. Details become more transparent. That process isn’t complete for Ohio State men’s basketball after its first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. But forget 24 hours, John Mobley Jr. knew within minutes how the defeat would impact him in the near future.
“It's definitely fuel to the fire, and it's going to be motivation for me every day for the summer coming up and the work I'm ready to put in to make sure we get back in this position and go further next time,” Mobley said.
Ohio State is looking to the future much faster than it wanted after making its first NCAA Tournament in four years. But with Bruce Thornton off to start his professional career after setting the school’s all-time scoring record, Mobley will be the most seasoned returning guard heading into 2026-27 for the Buckeyes. And he’s already motivated to make that year a better one.
Mobley’s sophomore season had its highs and lows, as do most for college hoopers. Something clicked on Jan. 17, however.
That day, Mobley went out and scored 28 points to lead Ohio State to a needed 86-74 win over UCLA. He made 6-of-12 3-pointers. It kicked off a four-game stretch where he averaged 25.3 points per game while shooting 46.5% from 3-point range. Perhaps his new habit of working out daily at 5 a.m. helped start the hot streak.
But Mobley broke his finger against USC on Feb. 11 and had to miss three games. His first contest back was the worst loss of Ohio State’s season, a 74-57 drubbing at Iowa, but both he and the team caught fire once more thereafter.
The Buckeyes rattled off a four-game winning streak to secure their NCAA Tournament berth. Mobley tallied 21 points against Purdue in the upset that spurred the tear, then followed with a 28-point night at Penn State on an incredible 8-of-9 from 3-point range. He had 18 points on Senior Night against Indiana to close the regular season.
Mobley had rough patches to start Ohio State’s game against TCU, shooting just 2-of-7 with a turnover in the first half. The Buckeyes trailed by 15 at halftime. Mobley fueled their comeback effort in the second half, however, scoring eight of Ohio State’s first 12 points in the second period.
“I just felt like, ‘I'm not going home like that. I'm not going home without putting all my all into it,’” Mobley said. “I had a talk at halftime, ‘I've just got to do better.’ And I did. I was a little sluggish in the first half, can't do that. That put us in the drought in the first place. But second half, just doing everything I can to bring the team back and give us a better chance of winning.”
Mobley will have to embrace next season without his partner in crime and mentor for the past two seasons, Thornton.
“He meant everything, especially to me,” Mobley said. “Me coming in as a freshman in the dorms, he took care of us, me and Colin (White). He had snacks in the pantry when we got there. He was driving us to practice. I need to go work out, he would drive me to the gym just to get some shots. He's a great guy to have. He was a great guy for this program. He really showed what loyalty meant.”
“It's going to be motivation for me every day for the summer coming up and the work I'm ready to put in to make sure we get back in this position and go further next time.”– John Mobley Jr. on Ohio State's loss to TCU
The post-Thornton era will feel strange, but a long-awaited return to the NCAA Tournament could still be a stepping stone for Ohio State basketball. A potential superstar arrives in five-star freshman Anthony Thompson next year. Rising sophomore forward Amare Bynum looks ready to emerge as a superstar, too.
“The toughness that we practice with and the fight we show, those are all things that we've got to build upon,” Diebler said. “Roster management is hard. It's tricky. There's a lot that goes into it, but the one thing we do, we recruit great young men. We were able to battle through a lot to get to this point, but we're not leaving here satisfied as a program. This was a great step for us, but we want more. We're going to fight all offseason up until games start to build that and take it up a level. That's what we're motivated by right now. I think we've got guys in there that come back that are motivated by the same thing.”
Ohio State has plenty of work to do as the offseason begins if it’s going to build a team capable of making a run in the NCAA Tournament next season. But it has a motivated veteran guard to build around in Mobley.
