Nailing Down a Winning Career Game Against West Virginia, Who’s the 20 YO Ohio State Guard

This season is witnessing many toe-to-toe performances, along with many new players emerging as stars with their jaw-dropping performances. One such example is Ohio State’s shooting guard Roddy Gayle Jr. Saturday night, the packed Rocket Mortgage Field House in Cleveland echoed with cheers as Gayle Jr. kept pouring back-to-back dunks. He played for 38 minutes on the floor, scoring 32 points, which included 11 of 21 made field goals (52.4%), 3 of 7 3-pony shots (42.9%), and 7 of 10 free throws (70%). In addition, he grabbed 7 rebounds, dished 6 assists, and 1 steal.

The game indeed turned out to be Roddy’s career night as he delivered a stellar performance, leading the Buckeyes to a close 78-75 win. Let’s learn a bit more about him.

Meet Roddy Gayle Jr, Ohio State’s dunking powerhouse

Roddy, Ohio State’s shooting guard is currently in his sophomore season and has delivered promising stats. This season he has been averaging 15.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. Also, he has been shooting with a field goal percentage of 52.3%. Not only these stats are going up with every game but also they highlight how significant Gayle’s contribution is to the Buckeyes’ success.

He has shown great potential and is one of the key players on the Buckeyes’ roster. Notably, Ohio State’s winning matchup against West Virginia turned into Gayle’s career night as his resilience kept making all those swift hoops. Similarly, in Ohio’s previous matchup against Merrimack, he scored 20 points, just one point shy of his career-high score of 21 points against Purdue in last season’s Big Ten Tournament.

Talking about last season, out of 35, Gayle started 11 games for Ohio State and averaged 4.6 points per game. Notably, he used to have brief playing time until the 2023 Big Ten Tournament came around. In the tournament, he played a significant role in the team by setting back-to-back career-high 15 and 20 points in Ohio’s final two games against Michigan State and Purdue respectively.

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With that being said, let’s look at how the Buckeyes have been doing this season.

Ohio State Buckeyes rising on the map

After winning their recent game against the West Virginia Mountaineers, the Buckeyes are on a 3rd straight winning streak. The game was a part of the Legends of Basketball Showcase. This season the Buckeyes have been performing well. They now have a record of 10 wins and 2 losses so far into the season.

Presently, the program ranks 5th in the Big Ten men’s basketball standings. With Coach Chris Holtmann’s guidance, the team has been averaging 79.4 points per game, earning 81st position out of 362 teams participating in the national championship run.

Some of the Buckeyes’ notable victories this season include wins against Alabama, UCLA, and Santa Clara. However, their losses against Texas A&M and Penn State also hold importance as they learned many valuable lessons from them.

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So far they have been playing with commendable grit and huge potential. With many other games coming up, it is hoped that Roddy and the Buckeyes will make a huge impact this season.