Trotter’s Trends: Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton on a heater; Kentucky’s new plan

This week is a bit of a slow burn with numerous college basketball teams taking the week to hit the books for finals week. It gives us time to catch our breath and parse the real from the fake from the first six weeks of the season.

Let’s dive into this week’s edition of trends.

Ohio State’s Thornton on a heater

The 50-40-90 club is hallowed ground for ethical hoopers. So far this season, Ohio State senior guard Bruce Thornton is shooting 59% from the field, 49% from 3-point land and 86% from the charity stripe. He’s just two (!) free throws away from being in the 50-40-90 club.

But the 3-point version of the 50/40 club is an even tougher benchmark. Of course, Thornton is one of just two card-carrying members. Thornton is shooting a bonkers 53% on 28 catch-and-shoot treys and a ludicrous 44% on 25 pull-up treys, per Synergy. Virginia’s Jacari White is the only other player in the nation to be over 50% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers and 40% on pull-up 3-pointers (minimum 10 attempts a piece).

It’s not hyperbole to call Thornton’s start to 2025-26 one of the best pure shooting displays that we’ve seen in recent memory. Last week was Thornton’s masterpiece. He poured in 34 points on just 17 shots against Illinois and followed it up with 23 points, including the game-winner, in a double-overtime victory over West Virginia. Ohio State played 90 minutes of basketball last week. Thornton was on the floor for all but 52 seconds.

Thornton’s 154.9 offensive rating is the seventh-best mark for any player this season, according to KenPom, and he’s doing it as the No. 1 option on the scouting report without a single reprieve. 

Thornton has every single good shooter trying to play catch-up ahead of Saturday’s showdown against No. 12 North Carolina at the CBS Sports Classic (3  p.m. ET on CBS, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App, Paramount+ Premium) 

Defense was supposed to be the calling card of this Kentucky roster, and it finally showed a bit of that edge in Saturday’s much-needed 72-60 victory over Indiana. Kentucky held the Hoosiers to just 0.70 points per possession in the second half. It forced 12 turnovers and IU shot just 6-22 in the final 20 minutes.

Kentucky’s defense just has way more bite when Mo Dioubate is on the floor. The veteran returned from a painful ankle injury and was awesome, delivering 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, zero turnovers, five steals and multiple high-energy hustle plays.

With Dioubate on the floor against top-50 teams, Kentucky’s defense has forced a takeaway on 22.8% of possessions, per hoop-explorer. When Dioubate has been off the floor or in a walking boot, Kentucky’s defense has struggled mightily to force turnovers (13.7%). 

Takeaways feel like everything to help Kentucky mask a halfcourt offense that isn’t playing with enough speed and precision right now. A healthy Dioubate is vital ahead of Saturday’s clash with No. 22 St. John’s at the CBS Sports Classic. (12  p.m. ET on CBS, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App, Paramount+ Premium)

Check your preseason priors

This summer, I projected which offenses could finish in the top 10 on KenPom. Let’s check in on how those have aged.

UConn

Preseason rank: 1 | Current rank: 17

The trend: UConn has stayed afloat offensively even with Tarris Reed and Braylon Mullins missing considerable time. I think this offense is still a sleeping giant, considering the best starting 5 of Solo Ball, Silas Demary Jr., Alex Karaban, Mullins and Reed has played a whopping 13 minutes together. Give it time to simmer.

Purdue

Preseason rank: 2 | Current rank: 1

The trend: Braden Smith generates great shots and Purdue is hammering the offensive boards. When Purdue doesn’t turn it over, you’re reduced to just praying that the Boilermakers miss shots they normally make. This offense is a freight train.

Louisville

Preseason rank: 3 | Current rank: 2

The trend: Louisville’s offense is so good that it can still manage a respectable 1.06 points per possession on a night when it shoots 21% from downtown. When the 3-pointers are dropping, Louisville is overwhelming. Good luck and best wishes stopping this offense when Mikel Brown Jr. starts making his treys.

Florida

Preseason rank: 4 | Current rank: 30

The trend: It’s looking like a whiff on this one. I thought the bully-ball frontcourt would be awesome on the glass and the paint (it has). I thought Tommy Haugh would be really good at the 3 (he has). I did not expect Boogie Fland to miss this many jumpers. Xaivian Lee’s chilly start hasn’t helped, either. This team is thinner than I expected, as well. I still think Florida can very much win the SEC, as weird as that sounds.

Kentucky

Preseason rank: 5 | Current rank: 37

The trend: This one was in hot water the moment that Jaland Lowe went down with a preseason shoulder injury. I was all-in on Lowe breaking out as one of the elite point guards in the sport. I thought the transition offense would explode and the amount of individual slashers would get the ball popping in a Mark Pope scheme. Instead, Kentucky’s offense has been stuck in molasses for long stretches.

Illinois

Preseason rank: 6 | Current rank: 3

The trend: This offense just has so many answers. No frontcourt has made more 3-pointers than Illinois’ (53) quartet of Tomislav Ivisic, Ben Humrichous, David Mirkovic and Zvonimir Ivisic. Freshman guard Keaton Wagler has been a revelation as a high-IQ trigger-man who can drill pull-up jumpers and create seams for Andrej Stojakovic and Kylan Boswell to attack downhill. Illinois is shooting 69.8% at the rim. That’s seventh-best in the sport, per hoop-explorer.

BYU

Preseason rank: 7 | Current rank: 9

The trend: Feed the studs is alive and well in Provo. Everything about UConn’s offense is centered around AJ Dybantsa, Rob Wright and Richie Saunders. This offense just has such a high floor because its best players take or create a shot every single time. There are very few wasted possessions here, and it helps that Dybantsa is unguardable, Saunders is Saunders and Wright has become the best version of himself. 

Texas Tech

Preseason rank: 8 | Current rank: 20

The trend: Outside of the Purdue disaster, Texas Tech has been a dangerous offense. It just plastered Arkansas for 1.29 points per possession behind the wagon that is JT Toppin and Christian Anderson. Toppin is utterly relentless, and no guard is creating more points than Anderson (43.1 per game). The role players have been more good than great, but that’s to be expected with so many new faces.

Duke

Preseason rank: 9 | Current rank: 10

The trend: Duke hasn’t been insanely great offensively yet, but it has also tested itself against some awesome defenses like Michigan State, Florida and Kansas. We’ve learned that Cameron Boozer can be an unreal fulcrum of an offense, Caleb Foster has real mental fortitude and Patrick Ngongba is a difference-maker. But this group has a new level it can get to if Isaiah Evans can get humming and freshmen like Nik Khamenia, Dame Sarr and Cayden Boozer can find their footing.

Wisconsin

Preseason rank: 10 | Current rank: 42

The trend: Wisconsin’s offense does scream positive regression. The Badgers are shooting just 21% on transition treys. You’d expect that number to tick up for a high-quality shot like that. John Blackwell has been mostly unguardable and Nick Boyd can really hoop, but Wisconsin isn’t getting enough from its bigs who aren’t stretching the floor at a high-enough level or killing switches. It also doesn’t help this offense that Wisconsin’s leaky defense is forcing ’em to take the ball out of the net constantly. Wisconsin’s offense has had some enormous nights already and will tick up with time, but the top-10 prophecies were a bit too rich.

Vital role players

You won’t find these guys on an All-conference squad, but they are helping their teams win games.

Remember Ugonna Onyenso? The former Kentucky big man who didn’t do much in Lexington or Kansas State? He piloted to Virginia and has been terrific for Ryan Odom’s 9-1 club. Onyenso has been one of the best backup 5-men in the country this year, ranking second in block rate and controlling the boards. Opponents are shooting just 43% at the rim against Virginia when Onyenso is on the floor.There are 69 players with a 10% offensive rebound rate and a 20% defensive rebound rate. Just one is 6-foot-4 or shorter: Saint Louis’ Dion Brown. The gritty guard has been awesome patrolling the boards for a Billikens team that is one Benny Gealer last-second prayer from being 9-1. Saint Louis eviscerated San Francisco 44-33 on the boards, and Brown posted a 14-point, 11-rebound, double-double. Nebraska’s biggest preseason question surrounded its guard play. Sam Hoiberg, a former walk-on and redshirt, has transformed into a total pest. Hoiberg flies around on defense, dices defenders up with drives and plays with relentless effort. The 6-foot, 180-pound guard has a 134.2 offensive rating this season with a dazzling 5.4-to-1, assist-to-turnover ratio for the undefeated Huskers. 

Weird, wacky and wonderful stats

UCLA has played 70 possessions of zone defense over the last three games. It had accumulated just 45 possessions of zone defense in the previous four years combined. Michigan has already scored 100 points five times this season, tying the most in school history with the 1989-90 club. Kansas is currently on pace to finish outside the top-50 in offensive efficiency for the third year in a row. There have only been three Big Ten players to notch 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game without missing a free throw or shot from the field: Purdue’s Oscar Cluff, Purdue’s Matt Haarms and … Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan. UConn has won 15 of its last 16 neutral-site games against ranked opponents.