GETTING BUCKETS
Who are the top scorers in Ohio State men’s basketball history?
Less than a minute remained in his Ohio State career, and Sam Thompson was just short of a milestone.
Inside the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, the senior guard was staring the end of an era directly in the face. Arizona, led by coach Sean Miller, held an 18-point lead when Thompson connected on a driving layup with 59 seconds to play.
When he hit the free throw, it marked the final points of his career and the 2014-15 season for Ohio State.
The second Thompson’s layup went through the rim, it cemented him as the latest member of the 1,000-point scoring club at Ohio State. When he completed the three-point play to give him a team-high 18 points in a losing effort, it also set his career scoring ledger at 1,001 points.
That now has Thompson as one of 60 Ohio State men’s basketball players to reach the four-digit mark. The first was Richard Schnittker, who scored 469 points during the 1949-50 season to finish with 1,129 in 63 career games for a 17.9 scoring average. In his final year, Schnittker was a consensus All-america selection after helping lead the Buckeyes to a Big Ten title, a 22-4 record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Schnittker now sits 44th in career scoring for the Buckeyes. Here’s a list of the top five scorers in Ohio State history:
No. 1: Dennis Hopson, 2,096
While 60 players have topped 1,000 career points at Ohio State, only two have more than doubled that threshold.
What’s arguably most astonishing about Hopson sitting atop the career scoring list at Ohio State is the fact that, through his first two seasons, Hopson was sitting on a modest 488 points. That averaged out to 7.6 points per game, but as he returned for the 1985-86 season his assault on the record book began.
Hopson averaged 25.0 points in 66 games in his final two years. Those two seasons alone give him 1,648 points — a total that, on its own, would mark the ninth-best career scoring mark. Hopson scored 20.9 points per game as a junior and upped it to 29.0 as a senior with the benefit of the newly instituted 3-point shot. He went 67 for 160 (41.9%) that season while posted the third-best single-season scoring mark in school history.
Oddly, while Hopson is Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer, his career average of 16.9 points per game ranks outside of the school’s top 10.
No. 2: Herb Williams, 2,011
A four-year starter for the Buckeyes, the 6-foot-11 Williams wasted no time making an impact for his hometown school. The product of Marion-franklin High School, Williams averaged 16.7 points in 27 games as a freshman in 1977-78 and followed that up with a career-high average of 20.0 in 31 games as a sophomore. By that point, Williams had already amassed 1,069 points, a total that would rank 52nd in program history.
He wasn’t done, though. As a junior, Williams earned first-team All-america honors from the Associated Press after averaging 17.6 points and 9.1 rebounds while helping Ohio State to a 21-8 record and a loss to UCLA in the regional semifinals of the 1980 NCAA Tournament. In his final season, Williams surpassed Jerry Lucas as Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer as he totaled 433 points in 27 games.
For his career, Williams averaged 17.6 points and 9.7 rebounds and is the only player to score more than 2,000 points and grab more than 1,000 rebounds at Ohio State.
No. 3: William Buford and Jerry Lucas, 1,990
For 18 years, Lucas’s career scoring total stood atop the Ohio State record book until Williams came along. Although he only had three seasons of eligibility (freshmen were not allowed to play during that time), Lucas poured in 710 points in 27 games (26.3 per game) during the 1959-60 season while helping the Buckeyes win their only national championship.
As a junior, Lucas scored 671 points in 27 games (24.8) and finished his career with 609 points in 28 games as a senior (21.7). His career scoring average of 24.3 points per game is second in Ohio State history, and it stands to reason he could’ve had more. In the official media guide, Lucas is described as someone who could have “scored much more if he had chosen to do so, but he was a total team player and would willingly pass up an open shot in order to get the ball to a teammate.”
His No. 11 jersey was the first to be retired in program history.
A double-digit scorer for four years, Buford averaged 11.3 points per game as a freshman for the 2008-09 Buckeyes when he scored 372 points in 33 games including 25 starts. For the next three years, he was a model of scoring consistency: Buford averaged 14.4, 14.4 and 14.5 points per game in his final three seasons to finish tied with Lucas.
In his final outing, Buford scored a team-high 19 points in a two-point Final Four loss to Kansas on March 31, 2012. His last points came on a dunk with nine seconds remaining that pulled the Buckeyes within 62-61.
Along with Michael Redd, Lucas and Buford are the only Buckeyes to score at least 500 points in three seasons. Buford scored 532, 520 and 566 points, respectively, in his final three seasons.
No. 5: Kelvin Ransey, 1,934
Another Toledo native, Ransey ended his career as Ohio State’s most prolific scoring guard in program history after scoring 29 points in an NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA to close the 1979-80 season. A four-year starter for the Buckeyes, the Macomber product averaged 13.1 points as a freshman and would go on to lead the team in scoring in each of his final three seasons.
Playing without the benefit of the 3point line, Ransey averaged 17.6 points as a sophomore and topped the 1,000point mark during a junior season that was the most prolific of his career. In 31 games, Ransey poured in 664 points for an average of 21.4 points while shooting 54.7% from the floor. He finished his career with 29 games as a senior, averaging 16.2 points, and also set a school record by dishing out 177 assists.
As a senior, Ransey was a secondteam all-american. He earned all-big Ten honors in his final three seasons at Ohio State and was a two-time team captain. In addition to being the fifthleading scorer of all time, his 516 career assists are fourth-most in Ohio State history. ajardy@dispatch.com @Adamjardy