This is the third transfer the Buckeyes have secured a commitment from this cycle.
The 2025-26 Ohio State men’s basketball roster is starting to take shape.
Bruce Thornton, Devin Royal, and John Mobley Jr. have all announced they will be returning to Columbus next season. Thornton will go through the NBA Draft process to get feedback, but will likely return to Ohio State.
In addition, guard Gabe Cupps of Indiana, the 2022 Ohio Mr. Basketball, center Christoph Tilly of Santa Clara, and now forward Brandon Noel, formerly of Wright State, will all be joining the Buckeyes this season.
NEWS: Wright State transfer forward Brandon Noel has committed to Ohio State, he tells @On3sports.
The 6-8 junior and Lucasville, Ohio native averaged 19.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season. https://t.co/YwGcyQArFE pic.twitter.com/0CtvRhy69v
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 8, 2025
The 6-foot-8 Noel was the preseason Horizon League player of the year last season. He’s a two-time second-team all-league pick and averaged 19.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Noel shot 55.2 percent overall from the floor, putting him third in the Horizon League and top 50 nationally. He was also ranked in the top 15 nationally for his 238 field goals made throughout his 2024-25 season.
This past season, he recorded 20 points and eight rebounds against Kentucky on Nov. 4 and 24 points and 10 rebounds against Toledo on Nov. 13.
“The decision to leave was a really hard one, and it was not due to me being unhappy here at all. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and would do it again in a heartbeat,” Noel said in a statement to the Wright State Guardian when he made the decision to enter the transfer portal.
Noel is an Ohio native, hailing from Lucasville and attending Chillicothe high school. The forward redshirted in 2020-21 and 2021-22 after tearing his ACL and having surgery on both knees — the left one to repair his ACL and the one on the right from which his patella tendon was taken to assist in the reconstruction.
In 2022-23, he appeared in all 33 games with 26 starts, averaging 29.1 minutes per game, third-most on the roster. He averaged 13.0 points per game, the most among freshmen in the Horizon League, while his 60.9 overall shooting percentage was tops in the Horizon League and finished No. 19 nationally. He averaged 8.7 rebounds per game, which was the third-most in the Horizon League.
He finished third in the Horizon League that season with 288 total rebounds, a top-50 mark nationally. His 215 defensive rebounds were the second-most in the Horizon League and he recorded eleven double-doubles on the season.
In 2023-24, he appeared and started in 31 games, averaging 34.4 minutes per game, which was the second-most on the roster. He averaged 14.5 points per game and led the team with 8.0 rebounds per game.
He scored double figures in 26 games, including six games with 20 points or more. According to Wright State Athletics, he was top-15 in the conference in statistical marks in rebounds per game (3rd), field goal percentage (3rd), minutes (7th), blocks (10th), and points per game (12th).
He is one of 23 players in Wright State program history with 500-plus career rebounds, and was named Second-Team All-Horizon League.
It is to be determined if Noel will start in the frontcourt along with Tilly or be the sixth man off the bench. With the Buckeyes likely to add at least one more transfer, it also depends on who Jake Diebler and his staff add to the roster after this.
Ohio State lost Meechie Johnson, Evan Mahaffey, Austin Parks, and Aaron Bradshaw to the transfer portal. Micah Parrish and Ques Glover exhausted their eligibility.
With the addition of Noel, Ohio State has now accounted for all 15 of its available roster spots for the 2025-26 season. The Buckeyes will only be able to add another player to the roster if someone who is currently on the roster transfers or otherwise moves on prior to the April 22 deadline.