Ohio State was officially able to retain another important player for the 2026-27 season, with Ohio State announcing that shooting guard John Mobley Jr. will return for his junior year with the team.
Mobley originally entered his name into the NBA draft while keeping his college eligibility, and after likely not getting the interest that he would have wanted, he will be a Buckeye fot at least one more year.
Mobley has been a big piece of head coach Jake Diebler’s offense since 11 games into his freshman season in 2024-25 when he joined the starting lineup and went on to average 13.0 points per game and 2.2 assists.
His scoring ability took a step up in his sophomore season with the Buckeyes, with 15.7 points per game to go with 2.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds.
Mobley also became a more efficient scorer, increasing his field goal percentage from 38.9 to 43.2 this year. He increased both his three-point percentage (38.5 to 41.1) and his two-point field goal percentage (39.6 to 47.2).
Mobley joins Bynum in as starters who will be back for next season, while the other three spots left by Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal and Christoph Tilly will be up for grabs.
The Buckeyes will be adding freshmen Anthony Thompson, Alex Smith and Vuk Lazarevic to the roster next year as well and went into the portal for Curtis Givens III, Jimmie Williams, Andrija Jelavic and Justin Pippen.
