EVANSTON, Ill. – The first conversation took place on a gloomy trip home from Pittsburgh. The next came a day or two later.
The Ohio State men’s basketball team needed answers after a one-point loss to the Panthers, and the clock was ticking with its Big Ten opener against Northwestern looming.
Coach Jake Diebler and sixth-year Wright State transfer forward Brandon Noel had plenty to talk about. Standing near the court inside Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena, eight days after that defeat, Noel summed up the conversation with three simple words.
“To be completely blunt and honest, ‘Just play better,’ ” Noel said. “That’s really what it boils down to, so that’s what I did.”
It’s a fair summarization.
After going scoreless in only 8:50 and failing to grab a single rebound against Pitt, Noel poured in a season-high 29 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to power the Buckeyes to an 86-82 win against the Wildcats.
What changed so drastically in the span of eight days? A redefinition of Noel’s role and expectations.
“What I saw so far this season, there was just inconsistency in his aggressiveness,” Diebler said. “It was about clarity, saying, ‘Here are the areas where I think you’ve got to be really aggressive.’ ”
In three seasons at Wright State, Noel averaged 15.5 points and 6.2 rebounds while playing in 97 games, including 90 starts. In none of those games did Noel fail to attempt a single shot, nor was there a single game where he did not grab at least one rebound.
In a 64-63 win over Notre Dame on Nov. 16, Noel had zero shot attempts in 19:22. So walking into Northwestern on Dec. 6, Noel’s combined stat line against Ohio State’s high-major opponents, the Fighting Irish and the Panthers, was two shots, no points and one rebound in 28:12.
Clearly, something was not working.
“(I needed to) be more physical,” Noel said. “Use the body that I have and the age and experience and skill set that I have and be physical. Play hard, whether that looks like driving on offense, rebounding on defense, whatever.”
When the Buckeyes analyzed where they were missing offensive production at Pitt, a game where starting center Christoph Tilly was battling a lower-leg injury and starting guard John Mobley Jr. missed the entire second half with a right ankle injury, Diebler said it was not hard to zero in on Noel’s stat line. Both he and Noel said that led to an honest conversation about what needed to change.
Ohio State’s Christoph Tilly, Brandon Noel break down win vs Ohio
Ohio State center Christoph Tilly (left) and forward Brandon Noel speak with reporters after a 103-74 exhibition win against Ohio on Oct. 26, 2025.
Talk only goes so far, though. Diebler said he wanted Noel to take action, and that’s exactly what happened.
“He was unbelievable in practice,” Diebler said. “I even moved him some onto the second team when we were scrimmaging to force him to be more aggressive. He responded in a big way. It was really impressive.”
So was his effort against the Wildcats. Noel was 13 for 15 from the floor, missing his lone 3-point attempt. That moved him to 84.2% (32 for 38) from inside the arc this season, the fifth-best two-point shooting percentage in the nation.
A career 77.4% free-throw shooter, Noel actually missed his first two at Northwestern before his third hit the rim, bounced up and fell through. He finished 3 for 5 from the line.
“I hate missing free throws,” he said. “It’s something that just bothers me down to my core, but getting that one to fall off a shaky bounce and bounce a few times, I’ll take it. That grounded me going forward shooting free throws just to relax a little bit.”
On an afternoon when Tilly and Mobley both played but struggled, scoring a combined 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting, Noel was able to pick up the slack. Nineteen of his points came during a second half in which he never went more than 3½ minutes without scoring, and Ohio State turned a 44-40 halftime deficit into a four-point win.
Much of his productivity came while Noel was a small-ball center. He played 22:01 of his season-high 35:08 without Tilly in the lineup, using his athleticism and ability to create driving opportunities in the middle of the floor.
For the first time this season against high-major competition, Noel showed he belonged. Inwardly, though, the veteran said not much had changed.
“It just proves the sense of belief that those around me have in me,” he said. “It’s more so to myself, something to build on.”
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
