COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2013 Ohio State point guard Bruce Thornton was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 1st pick of the second round (31st overall) of the 2026 NBA Draft on Wednesday night. Thornton is the 57th Buckeye to be selected in the NBA Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thornton is one of the best players to ever don the Scarlet and Gray. The only four-time captain in program history, Thornton became the school\u2019s all-time leading scorer this past season, finishing his career with 2,164 points. As a senior in 2025-26, he averaged career-highs in points and rebounds and scored the ninth-most points in a single season in program history. He earned his third All-Big Ten honor and was named an honorable mention AP All-American.<\/p>\n
He finished his career with the 19th most points of any player in Big Ten history and is just the second Big Ten player with 2,000 career points, 500 career assists and 500 career rebounds.<\/p>\n
The Fairburn, Ga., native graduated in December of 2025 with a sports industry degree.<\/p>\n
Buckeyes in the NBA Draft<\/p>\n
Thornton is the 57th Buckeye to hear his named called in NBA Draft, which dates back to 1947. He is the first Buckeye to be selected since Brice Sensabaugh was taken with the 28th overall pick by the Utah Jazz in 2023.<\/p>\n
Thornton\u2019s Career Honors<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention AP All-American (2026)All-Big TenSecond Team (2025, 2026)Third Team (2024)NABC All-District (2025, 2026)Emerald Coast Classic Most Valuable Player (2023)Big Ten Player of the Week (12\/23\/24, 11\/10\/25, 2\/23\/26, 3\/10\/26)Big Ten All-Tournament Team (2023)Academic All-Big Ten (2024, 2025, 2026)<\/p>\n
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Thornton on the Career Charts<\/p>\n
Thornton finished his career in the Top 10 of 14 career or season statistical categories in the Ohio State record books.<\/p>\n
Rk.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Category
1st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career points (2,164)
1st\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career free throws made (455)
2nd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career games started (136)
3rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career assists (541)
3rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career three-pointers made (221)
3rd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career three-pointers attempted (580)
5th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career field goals made (744)
5th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career free throws attempted (549)
5th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Season free throw percentage (.853)
6th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career field goals attempted (1,530)
8th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career free throw percentage (.829)
9th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Career games played (136)
9th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Season points (677)
10th\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Season three-point percentage (.424)<\/p>\n
Big Ten Medal of Honor Winner<\/p>\n
Bruce Thornton was honored this year with the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor, the highest all-around accolade in the conference, presented annually to one male and one female senior from each school who \u201chave attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work.<\/p>\n
The award, steeped in tradition, celebrates excellence in both academic and athletic arenas, recognizing student-athletes who demonstrate outstanding leadership, academic achievement, and competitive success. The Big Ten Medal of Honor is the conference\u2019s most historic award, bestowed annually since 1915 at each member institution, honoring seniors who excel in their respective sports and academic endeavors.<\/p>\n
Thornton is the 13th men\u2019s basketball Buckeye to earn the award and the first since Aaron Craft in 2014.<\/p>\n
Ohio State Men\u2019s Basketball Big Ten Medal of Honor Recipients
1931 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Charles R. Larkins
1936 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bruce B. Laybourne
1947\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warren E. Amling
1954\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul Allen Ebert
1959 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Larry P. Huston
1960 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Richard L. Furry
1961 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Richard H. Hoyt
1963 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jerry R. Lucas
1964 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Donald H. Flatt
1968 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wilmer F. Hosket
1971 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 James Cleamons
2014 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aaron Craft
2026\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bruce Thornton<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
#GoBucks<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2013 Ohio State point guard Bruce Thornton was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 1st…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-349378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}