The center from Santa Clara should be able to step in immediately for the Buckeyes and form a potent combo with Devin Royal down low.
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Ohio State’s men’s basketball program hasn’t done much to inspire confidence over the last few seasons. The last time the Buckeyes made the NCAA Tournament was back in 2022 when they beat Loyola-Chicago in the first round before losing to Villanova. Ohio State hasn’t made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in over 10 years, with their last trip to the Sweet Sixteen coming in 2013.
Jake Diebler’s first full season as head coach of the Buckeyes was a rocky one. Diebler took some swings in the transfer portal that didn’t work out, bringing back Meechie Johnson Jr., along with scooping up Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart.
Johnson only played a handful of games in his second stint in the scarlet and gray before personal issues sidelined him for the rest of the season in December. Bradshaw dealt with an off-court legal issue which resulted in the Kentucky transfer being away from the team for a few weeks, while Stewart frequently found himself in foul trouble when he was on the court.
Even though Bradshaw and Stewart have size, they weren’t really a force in the paint. With both bigs having already transferred to new schools during the offseason, Diebler was forced to look for reinforcements to give the Buckeyes a presence down low for the 2025-26 season.
Enter Santa Clara seven-footer Christoph Tilly, who will be a senior this season after spending three years in the WCC with the Broncos. If Tilly can put up numbers anywhere close to what he was able to do at Santa Clara, he will form a scary combo in the paint with Devin Royal.
Tilly was born in Berlin, Germany and played for two squads in Germany’s Pro B North League, as well as for Germany’s U18 team in the 2021 Euro Challengers Tournament before heading to Santa Clara. Despite not starting a game as a freshman with the Broncos, Tilly did make an impact on the court, averaging 5.0 points per game and 2.7 rebounds per game, playing just 12 minutes per game.
Tilly was able to score at least 10 points in five games during the 2022-23 season, with his best scoring output coming in the NIT loss to Sam Houston State when he scored 16 points.
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As a sophomore, Tilly became a fixture in the Santa Clara starting lineup, starting in 28 of the 29 games he appeared in. One of those games came against Ohio State in the Emerald Coast Classic. Unfortunately for Tilly and the Broncos, the game wasn’t much of a contest, as Ohio State won by 30 points in Florida.
Tilly had just seven points in 16 minutes in the loss, but one of his better games of the season came in the portion of the tournament that was on-campus. Against Southeastern Louisiana, Tilly netted 20 points, which was only bested during the season by the 22 points he scored against Portland. For the year, Tilly averaged 9.4 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Last season Tilly grew even more as a player, averaging 12.5 points per game and 4.9 points per game. The junior not only registered three double-doubles during the season, he also eclipsed 20 points in five games. Along with scoring a season-high 25 points against Loyola Marymount, Tilly recorded 21 points and 12 rebounds against Pacific.
In Santa Clara’s final game of the season, which would also end up being Tilly’s final game with the Broncos, the German big man scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the loss to UAB in the second round of the NIT.
Along with his noticeable improvement on the court over the last few years, what has also been impressive about Tilly is he is smart with the shots he takes. Last year Tilly led the WCC with a 55.4% field goal percentage. In each of his three seasons at the college level, Tilly has shot at least 50 percent.
Even though the majority of Tilly’s shots have come from close to the basket, he has shown the ability to step outside and hit the occasional three-pointer. Last season Tilly hit 17 of the 54 three-pointers he attempted, which translates to just over a 30 percent success rate from beyond the arc.
Will bringing in Tilly make Ohio State a national title contender in 2025-26? I wouldn’t start booking hotels in Indianapolis for the Final Four just yet. At least what Tilly will bring to the team this year is some toughness to go along with some of the senior leadership that Bruce Thornton and Micah Parrish will bring to the table.
On a team that felt like it lacked direction at times last year, the more experience that Diebler can bring in will help to make his job easier.
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For those who might be worried about Tilly’s ability to play in the Big Ten, it’s not like he was playing against scrubs in the West Coast Conference while with Santa Clara. Tilly spent the last three years matching up with Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, along with a usually ambitious non-conference schedule for the Broncos.
Plus, with his past professional experience in Germany, Tilly could be a sleeper to make some noise in the Big Ten as the Buckeyes look to end their recent postseason drought.