Jake Diebler upset with how Bruce Thornton is officiated: ‘He deserves more free throws’

The Ohio State Buckeyes finished the regular season with a loss to the Indiana Hoosiers. That snapped a modest two-game winning streak for the Buckeyes and it didn’t come without some frustrations for head coach Jake Diebler.

After the game, Diebler shared some of those frustrations. In a game where the Buckeyes only scored 60 points, there were some clear offensive issues for the Buckeyes. One of the biggest issues was that Bruce Thornton struggled, though Diebler believes that the way he was officiated was wrong and that he actually deserves more free throws.

“You’ve seen now, we’ve kind of had for guys emerge offensively for us,” Jake Diebler said. “Really all four of them have been dynamic and had some big-time games. It’s made us really hard to guard. Today, we didn’t have enough of those guys have those levels of games, but I thought their physicality on Bruce was impactful. They mixed up their ball screen coverage at times, they committed the big longer for most of the game. There were times still, I thought he was able to get in the lane and, quite honestly, he deserves more free throws.”

This season, Bruce Thornton is averaging 17.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He’s also an 84.6 percent free throw shooter. The 14 free throws he shot against Kentucky in December was the most free throws he shot in any individual game this season. It’s the only game he shot double-digit free throws in. In the Indiana loss, he’d only shoot four free throws.

“I don’t know why he doesn’t get to the free throw line more,” Diebler said. “And why he’s allowed to be played with so much physicality against him. I think he deserved today to get to the free throw line a couple times. It’s not like a huge, dramatic — but there were a couple of times he deserved to get to the free throw line. The shooter needs to be protected in the paint, as is most every time. I felt there were a couple of times that he deserved to get to the line.”

The physicality, as Jake Diebler explained, that Indiana played with helped slow Bruce Thornton down. While he did make all four free throws he shot in the game, Thornton finished with just nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists on the game. He did that while shooting two for 11 from the field. Had more fouls been called, he would have had more free throws to make and potentially changed how Indiana was able to guard him throughout the game.

“But, give them credit. They played with a ton of physicality on them. Bruce, as we know, is a physical player. He’s a physical player. So, I don’t want to take away from what Indiana did,” Diebler said. “And I also have huge, great, unbelievable confidence in Bruce Thornton moving into the Big Ten Tournament. He’s done an unbelievable job for us all season long. His leadership has been great. He’s hit big-time shots for us. He’ll respond. He’ll respond well.”

Jake Diebler knows he needs the best version of Bruce Thornton for this upcoming Big Ten Tournament run. The latest bracketology has Ohio State on the bubble. So, a deep run there will go a long way to securing an NCAA Tournament bid for the Buckeyes.