As Ohio State head coach Thad Matta sat in his chair fielding questions from the media following a win over Penn State on Wednesday evening, he glanced down at the stat sheet handed to him by a team spokesman.
One of the questions he got from a reporter was about his star freshman guard D'Angelo Russell, who didn't play his best game in the Buckeyes' 75-55 win against the Nittany Lions.
"D'Angelo didn't have his best game, but you still look at his stat line — 17 points, six rebounds and seven assists — what does that say about his game?" one media member asked.
Matta let out a brief chuckle before he answered.
"I think that’s the sign of a great basketball player," he said. "He had a little bit of an off night, but still did so many things well in terms of helping us win the basketball game."
Russell wasn't perfect against Penn State. Far from it, actually. He made just 4 of his 13 shots and was only 1 of 5 from behind the 3-point line. He was aggressively double-teamed and trapped off high ball screens as the Nittany Lions did everything they could to try and take the star freshman out of the game.
Essentially, Penn State tried to force someone else to beat it. As a result, Sam Thompson went for a career-high 22 points.
“Teams can’t really key on me if the other guys are stepping up and doing what they are good at and just making shots and playmaking, It makes the game a lot easier.”– D'Angelo Russell
“I guess it’s smart or whatnot," Russell said of Penn State's defensive strategy. "It forces other players to step up like they did and it makes my job easier. Great job by the coach I guess.”
In fairness to Russell, he still put up numbers close to his season averages. He's putting up per-game numbers of 19.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists. But he has been so spectacular over the last two months for the Buckeyes that standout performances have almost become expected.
If other guys like Thompson can step in and provide Russell with a solid No. 2 scoring option, it makes Ohio State that much better.
"Teams can’t really key on me if the other guys are stepping up and doing what they are good at and just making shots and playmaking," Russell said. "It makes the game a lot easier.”
But make no mistake about it. This year's version of the Buckeyes will go as far as Russell will take them.
Even still, there's comfort in knowing if he doesn't play his best game — granted it was against a bottom-feeding Big Ten team in Penn State — Ohio State is still capable of winning.
“I hope so because I think that this is the time. For those guys to have an understanding of we’ve only got three games left in this building or whatever it is, the sand in the hour glass is winding down for those guys," Matta said. "You hope that they have that sense of urgency to focus and intensify everything that they’re doing to play their best basketball down the stretch.”
