Taylor Thierry breaks ankles, sticks out her tongue, leads Ohio State in rare show of emotion

The usually introverted Buckeye let it out Sunday against the Oregon Ducks on the court and in response to an impressive moment of offense

To watch Taylor Thierry play basketball is to watch a quiet, introverted, personality publicly come to life. The Ohio State women’s basketball senior guard/forward makes the fantastic look easy. Thierry can leap higher than anyone on the court, intercept passes with ease and clean up shots more efficiently than most in the country.

Thierry’s highlight reel plays normally end with excited teammates approaching the career Buckeye for high fives, but Thierry stays focused on business. That was until Sunday.

Ohio State had a difficult first quarter. After shooting 19 percent from the field, the Buckeyes scored a season-low eight points in a quarter and the visiting Oregon Ducks had a three-point lead. Queue an offensive run for the Scarlet and Gray.

It wasn’t just any offensive run; it was a spell during which the Buckeyes outscored the Ducks 27-0 in 5:58 of game time.

The final shot of the run came compliments of Thierry, scoring 13 of the 27 points. Thierry went up against Olympic gold medalist Elisa Mevius, who won the medal with the Germany 3×3 team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. A sport built on strong one-on-one defense and played at a blistering pace.

Thierry again made the mundane look easy when the senior faked to her right and hit a crossover dribble that sent Mevius to the floor. After trying to earn charges multiple times in the first half, this fall wasn’t voluntary as Thierry’s move looked like it came from an AND1 mixtape.

That wasn’t the most shocking moment of that play, it’s what came afterward. Thierry stuck her tongue out, not at Mevius but in response to the crowd, the run, and arguably the loudest moment in the Schottenstein Center this season.

“Honestly, I probably was just excited and getting caught up in the moment a little bit,” said Thierry. “But honestly, it was just my teammate’s reaction kind of also helped with that too. So it was a fun moment.”

Then Thierry did what she usually does on the court, and took a supporting role. When asked how she impacted the game, the usual “here to help my teammates” anything but false humility when coming from the senior was interrupted by teammate Kennedy Cambridge.

“Can I answer that question for her, because she’s too hard on herself,” said Cambridge. “When TT [Taylor Thierry] trusts her shot, it’s going to go in. And so when she shot that shot when she made the girl fall, we all knew it was going in. TT likes to hesitate, but we are pushing for TT to shoot the ball more because I think she can really get us going offensively.”

In a game where forward Cotie McMahon, known for taking over games, got into early foul trouble and missed most of the first half, and freshman Jaloni Cambridge’s shots weren’t falling at a regular clip, Thierry showed Oregon and the fans in attendance that when the situation calls for it, she’s ready to step up.

Thierry had a season-high 20 points with four rebounds and three steals. The guard/forward hybrid played 38 minutes in the win, the most of any Buckeye, and was the only player to hit more than one three-point shot for the Scarlet and Gray, going 3-of-3 from the floor.

While Thierry might dismiss sticking out her tongue, or talk about only being out there to help her teammates, those moments of emotion and taking over a game aren’t only fun, but well-earned.

“I mean, I was happy for her because she looks like she was really having fun out there today and she should,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “She works extremely hard so I wanted her to enjoy it.”

McGuff also applauded Thierry for playing what he called her best game of the season. Thierry’s performance in the 69-60 Buckeyes win might be a moment that at the end of the season could be the moment Ohio State found more offensive firepower.

“I thought she was really assertive and aggressive,” said McGuff. “And she’s an extremely talented player and I’m hopeful like this will maybe give her the confidence and continue to assert herself in that manner.”

In the first quarter, Thierry looked apprehensive. When the senior received a pass on the wing, with ample time to take a three, the hesitation was evident. The second quarter is the product leaving the hesitation on the bench. Should Thierry continue playing aggressively, and trusting her ability in game moments, opponents need to allot more luggage space for ankle ice packs.