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Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton named second-team All-Big Ten

Spencer-Holbrookby:Spencer Holbrook•about 18 hours•

SpencerHolbrook

Bruce Thornton, Ohio State
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State - © Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

COLUMBUS — Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton has improved his statistics in each of his three seasons with the Buckeyes. He’s become a true leader of the Buckeyes hoops program, too.

Thornton is being recognized as one of the top players in the Big Ten just one day before the Buckeyes take on Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament. The third-year Ohio State guard was named second-team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media Tuesday, a great honor for the season he just had for the Buckeyes.

Thornton averaged 17.5 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game this season. He’s the leading scorer for the Buckeyes, and he has averaged the most assists per game of the Ohio State players. He shot .426 from beyond the 3-point line this year. Oh, and he’s an 85-percent shooter from the free-throw line.

Ohio State has repeatedly relied on Thornton in big moments this season; the Buckeyes are currently 17-14 overall and 9-11 in Big Ten play, placing them squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into Big Ten Tournament weekend. The Buckeyes must beat Iowa on Wednesday (6 p.m., Peacock) in order to keep their tournament hopes alive — or else they might be NIT-bound for the second straight year in Year One of the Jake Diebler era.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Ohio State as the very last team in the NCAA Tournament field and playing Xavier in a first-four matchup in Dayton, Ohio. The winner of that game, in Lunardi’s bracket, would face No. 5 seed Arizona in Seattle as part of the West Region. Lunardi’s top seed in that region is Florida, while he has No. 4 seed Purdue and No. 6 seed UCLA as other Big Ten teams in that region.

The advanced numbers at ESPN give Ohio State a 52-percent chance to make the NCAA Tournament ahead of the Big Ten Tournament, even after the loss to Indiana on Saturday.

Thornton is a big reason why Ohio State is so close to an NCAA Tournament berth. The coaches and media from around the Big Ten understand that, and that’s why he was named a second-team all-conference performer on Tuesday.

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