Ohio State coach Thad Matta was asked on Monday’s Big Ten conference call the difference between superstar freshman guard D’Angelo Russell when he’s scoring and when he’s not scoring.
“This is going to sound as simple as simple can be, but the ball going in the basket helps a lot,” Matta said.
That’s the answer of a coach who has a weapon who controls his own destiny.
Halfway into the season, Russell is putting up numbers that put him in a company of players who fit in the “otherworldly” talent category.
The hard numbers are impressive enough. He is averaging 17.9 points, 4.9 assists, shooting 44.6 percent from deep and leads all freshmen with 45 three-pointers. But it’s the advanced numbers that really show how special he’s been.
Russell has an offensive rating of 114.5—that’s a number used to quantify points generated per 100 possessions—and he’s using 29 percent of Ohio State’s possessions when he’s on the floor, per kenpom.com (subscription required).
In the last 10 years, there have been two freshman perimeter players with an offensive rating that high who have used at least 28 percent of their team’s possessions: Stephen Curry and James Harden.
“Anybody who has followed D’Angelo is not surprised by how he’s playing,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said on Monday’s conference call. “He takes the game very, very serious. And he’s got so many dimensions to his game. The bottom line is you can never lose him. And I know that sounds simple, but it’s…
Continue Reading: A Unique Talent with Superstar Numbers, D’Angelo Russell Is Carrying Ohio State
