After such a strong freshman season in which Amare Bynum became a starter and was an important piece of Ohio State making it back to the NCAA Tournament, Bynum had a decision to make.
Was he going to return to Ohio State and try to make a further push than the Buckeyes did last season?
That was an easy question to answer, the sophomore forward said.
“I think all along I knew I was coming back,” Bynum said. “This is the school that believed in me first, so I want to believe in them.”
Bynum returning was great news for head coach Jake Diebler and his program after as a freshman, Bynum averaged 9.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists despite coming off the bench for the first 10 games of the season.
But he knows that with some of the top talent from last year’s squad no longer in scarlet and gray, he will have to take a step forward as both a player and a leader.
“I’ve taken a big role, so I’ve been working this summer to work on my game more to be a better scorer and everything for the team,” Bynum said.
Bynum was already a strong finisher at the rim, and the experience seemed to help in that aspect later in his freshman year when he was scoring more often. But now, he’s looking to become a better scorer by shooting from outside better as well.
He realized he had to do that in June when former Buckeyes who are in the NBA were back in Columbus and got on the court.
“It was a wake-up call for me,” Bynum said. “I wasn’t really ready yet, coming out in the summer, but now I’m ready to keep working. … They don’t miss open shots, so I realized I have to make more shots, make the open ones.”
Bynum shot 30.8 percent from three-point range as a freshman, so there is some room for improvement as he said, but he will be an important piece for this Ohio State team in the 2026-27 season so matter what, and Diebler is aware of that.
“We talked about the importance of this offseason and that he’s required, certainly for him to accomplish his goals, but for us to accomplish ours, he’s required to take a significant jump,” the head coach said. “The reason I’m so confident in that is because I saw the consistency he operated with all year long.”
