The preparation in the film room showed John Mobley Jr. that the opportunities were going to be there. It was just up to the sophomore guard to go out and execute them.
When Ohio State eked out a 64-63 win against Notre Dame on Nov. 16, Mobley put up 9 points entirely thanks to perimeter shooting. Inside the 3-point line, he missed all five of his attempts, dropping his two-point field-goal percentage to just 21.1% (4 for 19).
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCollectively, the Buckeyes had missed only 38 shots inside the 3-point line through their first four games. While they were shooting 65.1% from two, 15 of their 38 misses (39.5% of them) were from the team’s third-leading scorer. It was an ugly statistic, and while Mobley might not have specifically known that one, he had a phrase for the opening stretch of his sophomore season.
He called it a “rough start.” And as the Buckeyes prepared for their Nov. 25 home game against Mount St. Mary’s, he saw it as a chance to put that in the past. Against the Mountaineers, Mobley scored a career-high 26 points, connected on all six of his two-point shots and paced a 113-60 win in front of 10,140 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
“Going back to Illinois last year, not being able to get that shot to fall, not really having that good second level, (I’ve been) staying in the gym all summer, working on that mid-range,” he said. “It’s open a lot for me because a lot of teams want to run me off the line.”
As a freshman, Mobley was moved into the starting lineup when Meechie Johnson Jr. left the team after 10 games. He finished the year averaging 13.0 points per game and shooting 38.5% from 3-point range, making 77 of his 200 attempts. Inside the arc, Mobley shot 39.6% (55 for 139) and particularly struggled in an 87-79 loss at Illinois on Feb. 2.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAgainst the Illini, Mobley was repeatedly run off the 3-point line and baited into the midrange, where he went 2 for 13. He had 20 points thanks to a 4-for-8 effort from deep, but the game was still on Mobley’s mind nearly 10 months later.
Ohio State Buckeyes guard John Mobley Jr. (0) dribbles the ball against Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers guard Mason So (4) in the first half of the NCAA basketball game at Value City Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.Since the Notre Dame game, Mobley has made 10 of his last 11 shots from two-point range. Some have come on layups and others on pull-up jumpers, but the uptick in productivity is something coach Jake Diebler said is indicative of the sophomore growing as a decision-maker.
“The last two games he’s playing with a better pace when the ball’s in his hands,” Diebler said. “Prior to that I felt like he was a little sped up. He’s playing with some jabs and some fakes better to get some leverage downhill. Then he’s changing his pace when he gets downhill and it’s allowed him to read the game at a high level.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Obviously he’s a gifted scorer so we want him to be aggressive in those areas but we want him to be on balance and we want him to manipulate the defense, not the defense manipulate him.”
For the season, Mobley’s two-point shooting percentage has climbed to 46.7% while he is shooting 39.5% from 3-point range. He’s averaging 16.8 points per game, second on the team only to senior Bruce Thornton. Even as he’s searched for consistency from two, Mobley has not shied from shooting from deep, taking at least five 3-pointers in all six games to open the season.
Mobley said it wasn’t that he wasn’t necessarily confident from two, more that it wasn’t his first option.
“I don’t let (my efficiency rating) affect me at all,” he said. “I’m always going to shoot. That’s what I do. Just trying to turn the corner.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSeated to Mobley’s left, sophomore center Ivan Njegovan began to smile as Mobley described his shooting mentality.
“I just know he’s going to shoot,” he said. “That’s all. I don’t worry about his shooting confidence. You always know he’s going to shoot.”
Mobley’s career night also came on a “kids takeover” night when the first 1,000 fans aged 12 and under received a free drawstring bag adorned with a replica of the back of his jersey.
Here are four other takeaways from Ohio State’s win against Mount St. Mary’s.
Ohio State Buckeyes center Ivan Njegovan (7), center Christoph Tilly (13) and forward Brandon Noel (14) warm-up before the game against the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers at Value City Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.Christoph Tilly missed second half due to injury
Starting center Christoph Tilly totaled 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and three turnovers in 13:58. All of that came during the first half as Tilly watched the second half from either the bench or a nearby stationary bike.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDiebler joked that he was in “big trouble” before saying Tilly was dealing with what he described as a minor injury.
“He has a lower leg, a nagging thing so we felt like we wanted to rest him,” he said. “It’s just precautionary stuff. Don’t anticipate it being anything long-term. He practiced (Nov. 24). That’s all it was. He was not in trouble, just more precautionary.”
Ohio State had doubled up Mount St. Mary’s at halftime and led 52-26. Without Tilly, the Buckeyes still outscored the Mountaineers 61-34.
Ohio State Buckeyes guard Gabe Cupps (4) and guard Mathieu Grujicic (9) react after guard Bruce Thornton (2) drew a foul in the second half of the NCAA basketball game at Value City Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.Mathieu Grujicic earned some extra minutes in practice at Colin White’s expense
Freshman guard Mathieu Grujicic did not get off the bench against Notre Dame but played 10:38 in the Nov. 20 win against Western Michigan, making two free throws and pulling down three rebounds. It more than doubled his previous career high in minutes in the early stages of his Ohio State career.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAgainst Mount St. Mary’s, Grujicic saw first-half minutes as one of Diebler’s first substitutions. He checked in with 12:15 left in the first half and Ohio State ahead 23-13, a time of the game where sophomore Colin White has typically seen playing time. Instead, White came off the bench for the first time with 12:39 left in the game and the Buckeyes leading 74-39.
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Diebler said it was an opportunity Grujicic has earned.
“I felt like Mathieu has practiced at a really high level going into last game and this game,” he said. “Colin, we’ve monitored his load in practice at times. Mathieu has practiced with a consistency that we felt like we wanted to reward that. It maybe caused Colin to miss a rotation but it wasn’t anything that he’s done.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhite has dealt with a lingering leg injury since suffering an injury in a game last November. Against the Mountaineers, he played 6:09 and had 2 points, a rebound and a steal. Grujicic, in 9:18, missed all three of his 3-point attempts, went 1 for 2 from the line and had two rebounds and an assist.
“I trust (White) just as much as anybody on our team because he cares so much and works so hard,” Diebler said. “Big thing was rewarding the jump that Mathieu has made in the last week and a half.”
Ivan Njegovan, Taison Chatman produced as reserves
Diebler has spoken often and at length about the need for more production from his bench as the season progresses. Against Mount St. Mary’s both Njegovan and redshirt sophomore guard Taison Chatman set new career high scoring marks.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith Tilly seated on the bench during the second half, Njegovan went 7 for 7 from the field and scored 15 points in 15:41. Not only was it a career high, but it was more points than Njegovan had scored in Ohio State’s first five games combined.
“Overall the game (has gotten) got a little slower since I got here,” he said. “I feel like I’m starting to move a little better. It can still be a lot better and needs to be, but I feel like the game has slowed down a little bit. I feel like I’m playing more poised and that helps me a lot.”
More: Now healthy, Ohio State men's basketball's Taison Chatman ready to play
As a freshman, Njegovan averaged 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds while appearing in 21 games for the Buckeyes.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementChatman entered the season battling Indiana transfer Gabe Cupps for time behind Thornton and Mobley in Ohio State’s backcourt after missing all of 2024-25 with a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered during the summer before the season. After taking a medical redshirt, Chatman had averaged 7.0 minutes off the bench while scoring 11 points in Ohio State’s first five games.
Against the Mountaineers, Chatman did not see action until 12:39 remained in the game but hit three 3-pointers to finish with 9 points. In his first 22 games at Ohio State, Chatman had scored 28 total points.
“He’s a gifted scorer,” Diebler said. “As he continues to get more run and get more confidence, his ability to provide an offensive spark off the bench is there. What we’re looking for is the consistency in practice and some of the other areas that I forget he hasn’t really had a freshman season. I’ve got to remind myself of that at times. He’s working through some of that and we’re seeing some small improvements.”
Ohio State’s offensive efficiency numbers were significant
The Buckeyes finished the game shooting 64.1% from the field (41 for 64), 15 for 31 (48.4%) from 3-point range and 26 for 33 (78.8%) from two. It added up to an adjusted offensive efficiency rating of 154.2 points per 100 possessions – the fourth-highest mark in the KenPom era that dates back to the 1996-97 season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOhio State’s effective field-goal percentage of 75.8 is ninth-best during that timespan, and its two-point shooting percentage was fifth-best. Three of the seven best two-point shooting performances in Ohio State history have come this season: 81.2% against IU Indy (No. 2) and 78.3% against Purdue Fort Wayne (No. 7).
Ohio State Buckeyes help up a teammate in the first half of the NCAA basketball game at Value City Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.From a pure production standpoint, this was the seventh-most points scoring in a single game in Ohio State history and the second-most in a game this season. The Buckeyes opened with a 118-102 win against IU Indy, the second-most points ever scored in program history.
The 61 second-half points are also tied for the ninth-most in a half in program history.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAs of the evening of Nov. 25, Ohio State was No. 1 in fewest percentage of shots blocked (2.8%), No. 2 in two-point field-goal percentage (67.4%) and No. 4 in effective field-goal percentage (63.0%).
Ohio State men's basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at [email protected], on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: John Mobley's midrange powers Ohio State past Mount St. Mary's: Takeaways
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