Scarlet Sunrise: Roddy Gayle Jr. finds groove again in win over Nittany Lions

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Roddy Gayle Jr. finds groove again in win over Nittany Lions

Roddy Gayle Jr. doesn’t get too high, and he doesn’t get too low either.

That second part was key when Gayle shot just 26.4% from the field and averaged 3.3 turnovers per game the first four outings of January.

“Say like some freshmen see an older guy maybe struggle with body language, it’s easy for them to go ahead and follow their lead,” Gayle said Friday. “So it’s been important for me, and I know for guys like Bruce [Thornton] and Jamison [Battle] as well, to be able to lead by example.

“Showing them that it’s OK to struggle. It’s more than fine to struggle. What do you do next determines the kind of player and kind of person you want to be.”

What Gayle did next was turn in his most efficient game of the month. He did so in a rematch with pesky Penn State, a day removed from calling the Saturday afternoon game a “must win.”

“Gayle I thought early in the game really hurt us,” Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades said postgame, “and that became a matchup issue.”

Gayle hadn’t made more than four field goals in a game since his 32-point outburst against West Virginia in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Dec. 30. He hit three in the first 3:04 against Penn State.

The second-year player from Niagara Falls, New York, kickstarted the Buckeyes’ game-opening, 16-0 run. It was the beginning of his 16-point, five-assist, four-rebound and one-turnover performance in a 79-67 win that ended Ohio State’s three-game skid.

“Good rhythm, yeah good rhythm,” Holtmann said of Gayle’s play against Penn State. “I thought just a really good, productive outing for Roddy. Great to see that with him.”

Gayle explained Friday that, at the moment, he doesn’t have any issues with his ankle, which he originally injured versus Rutgers on Jan. 3 and then re-injured in practice a few days before the Michigan game on Monday.

There was nothing holding Gayle back from doing what he does best: getting to the rim and playmaking. At Michigan earlier in the week, he snapped a streak of seven straight games with at least three turnovers. He also coughed up the rock only once Saturday.

While Gayle’s 3-point struggles continued — he’s now 0-of-15 from beyond the arc in the last four games — he got to the line for four free throws and knocked down all of them, in addition to finishing a much-improved 6-of-13 from the field.

“Not everybody’s gonna be the player they want to be, they might see some slumps,” Gayle said Friday. “But the ball keeps rolling. So just finding different ways to be able to impact winning is something I’ve been able to improve on. And just being confident whenever it’s time for me to shoot the ball or be able to attack lanes and be able to provide for my teammates.”

As Ohio State returned to the win column, Gayle returned to being the passer that made him so dynamic in the first half of the season. Perhaps most notably, he teed up lobs for Felix Okpara, Evan Mahaffey and Devin Royal. The touch needed for those feeds came back to the second-year guard against Penn State.

“Half the battle is mental,” Gayle said Friday. “So just trying to fight that out in my head is something that I really worked on.”

That work paid off Saturday — for Gayle and for the Buckeyes.

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• Evan Mahaffey shines, Ohio State bounces back against Penn State

What they’re saying: Experts, coaches have raved about Caleb Downs

Ohio State kicked off its first big recruiting weekend of 2024 with a transfer portal commitment that sent shockwaves across the sport.

The Buckeyes landed SEC Freshman of the Year and former Alabama safety Caleb Downs. He was expected to return to Georgia, his home state school. Instead, the Buckeyes won out on a second-team AP All-American and Freshman All-American who is already generating NFL Draft buzz two years out.

Lettermen Row has full coverage of the Downs commitment, and we’re rolling along with some intel and quotes from the last few months. Here’s more context about how good Downs is, plus what he’ll mean to an already-proven Ohio State defense.

Check it out here.

Four-star defensive lineman Dominic Kirks commits to Ohio State

The Buckeyes and longtime defensive line coach Larry Johnson received a commitment from four-star Painesville (Ohio) Riverside standout Dominic Kirks. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound in-state prospect decommitted from Washington on Jan. 12, the same day former Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer took the Alabama job.

Kirks is the No. 227 overall prospect, the No. 25 defensive lineman and the No. 11 Ohio prospect, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

For more on the latest addition to the Buckeyes’ 2024 class, which jumped from No. 5 to No. 3 nationally, go here.

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• What Commitment of Dominic Kirks Means for Ohio State

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 223 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 314 days

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