Ohio State point guard Bruce Thornton makes preseason All-Big Ten team

The Big Ten conference announced their preseason All-Big Ten team selections on Tuesday, and starting point guard of the Ohio State basketball team Bruce Thornton made the team for the first time in his Buckeye career.

Thornton is entering his third year at Ohio State and is expected to take on a leadership role under new head coach Jake Diebler. Last season, he saw his numbers increase in nearly every statistical category.

During his sophomore season, Thornton led the Buckeyes in points per game at 15.7, assists at 4.8 per game, steals per game at 1.2, and in minutes at 33.7 per game. He also shot at a 42.7% clip from the field while shooting nearly four more shots per game. Last year earned him Third-team All-Big Ten which is the only Big Ten honor that Thornton has been recognized for in his time in Columbus until today.

The Ohio State point guard was the only Buckeye to be selected to the preseason All-Big Ten team which features ten players. The full list of players to make the preseason All-Big Ten team is below:

1. 2024-25 Preseason All-Big Ten Team

Oumar Bello, Indiana
Payton Sandofrort, Iowa
Dawson Garcia, Minnesota
Brooks Barnhizer, Northwestern
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
Jackson Sheldtad, Oregon
Ace Baldwin, Penn State
Braden Smith, Purdue
Dylan Harper, Rutgers
Great Osobor, Washington

Thornton has shown at times throughout his career that he can be an All-Big Ten caliber guard, and this year will be his best shot at it leading the offense under Jake Diebler. His competition will be Purdue’s point guard Braden Smith who was named Big Ten Player of the Year by a unanimous vote from the media.

On October 18th, Bruce Thornton and the Ohio State basketball team will take on Cincinnati in a Charity Exhibition game. Then to follow that in almost a month’s time from today, the Buckeyes will be squaring off with Texas in Las Vegas to kick off the regular season. It’s only a matter of time until Bruce Thornton leads the Buckeye offense in his junior campaign.