Cambridge flies high but fell hard on Tuesday. What adjustments, if any, are needed?
No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball is 2-0 to start the season. The Buckeyes started a light non-conference schedule against two mid-major sides, both coming to the Schottenstein Center to try and recreate the David versus Goliath upset.
Against UNC Charlotte on Tuesday, there was no slingshot in sight. The Scarlet and Gray defeated the 49ers soundly 94-53.
Coming out of halftime, head coach Kevin McGuff’s side had a 26-point lead on the first possession of the third quarter. Freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge, who had 8 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals at the time grabbed a defensive rebound and was off to the races.
The only player back for Charlotte was forward Keanna Rembert, a speed mismatch against the lightning-quick Cambridge, but seven inches taller than the No. 1 overall point guard in the 2024 freshman class.
Cambridge did what she’s done throughout youth, high school basketball, and her first game of college — she attacked the basket. Rembert was unfazed, focusing on stopping the layup, and she did. In the process, the Charlotte forward sent Cambridge to the court.
Called a foul on the floor, Rembert wasn’t nefarious in her attempted defense. Rembert put her hands up but ran alongside the guard, forcing the whistle.
The arena fell silent after Cambridge’s right hip slammed against the ground and the guard laid stationary. After a few minutes, Cambridge got up with help from the medical staff and walked to the hallway of Value City Arena, bent over at 90 degrees.
Cambridge returned to the bench, but not to the game. Charlotte responded after the injury, taking advantage of a Buckeyes side in a lull, and scored the next nine points. The change in momentum didn’t last long and Ohio State expanded their lead again to defeat the visitors by 41 points.
Following the game, head coach Kevin McGuff didn’t have much to say about the injury, still requiring more attention, but what he did say trended positively in the guard’s favor. McGuff thinks it won’t sideline the guard long-term and the game’s lack of competitiveness didn’t require Cambridge’s return.
“Yeah, I mean given the circumstances of the score and stuff, we were definitely not going to do that,” said McGuff on putting Cambridge back into the game.
It’s the first knock in college for the Tennessee native, but watch the guard play and it doesn’t feel like it’ll be the last for Cambridge.
Forward Ajae Petty is someone who’s been on the other side of those types of collisions. The 6-foot-3 transfer out of the SEC knows that these types of things happen, and Petty knows her new teammate Cambridge.
“Jaloni [Cambridge] is tough. You all saw it like the first game,” said Petty. “So we can’t really tell her nothing. She [ges]o out there and she [does] what she’s supposed to do like every night.”
Taking away a part of Cambridge’s game limits the guard’s effectiveness. One hard fall isn’t going to stop Cambridge from doing what made her a top prospect, but there’s a balance.
Look at the growth within the Buckeyes’ starting five with forward Cotie McMahon. Like Cambridge, McMahon made a living from going at the rim and worrying about the consequences later. McMahon, five inches taller than Cambridge, took early hits all the way through the 2023 Elite Eight where the freshman looked like the impacts began taking their toll.
McMahon didn’t stop her game but enhanced it. Those runs to the paint didn’t always end with a collision and a whistle. They turned into passes to open teammates when the defense collapsed.
Cambridge does those things now, but there’s an element of choosing the right battles. Especially in a league with bigs like 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts from UCLA or Illinois’ Kendall Bostic.
“It’s tough. I mean, she’s usually got a pretty good feel for that and just she went hard and kind of got caught in the air today,” said McGuff. “But she’s just such an aggressive player that it’s hard to kind of take that away.”
The person who knows best about these situations is Cambridge herself. The next time that situation comes up, McGuff and Cambridge’s teammates are going to trust her. Cambridge has far more of her career in front of her than behind, but it’s a trust that she’s already earned.