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F DeShaun "The Diesel" Thomas (Panathinaikos - Greece)

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Thomas rebounds

Deshaun Thomas had gone scoreless in three straight games, including an 0-for-6 performance against Purdue.

The freshman was inserted in the first half and quickly was slow to react defensively on two Illinois baskets.

But he made a couple of pivotal plays in the second half. After Illinois pared Ohio State's lead to nine midway through the second half, Thomas took a pass from David Lighty and drained a three-pointer.

On the Buckeyes' next possession, Thomas fought for a rebound of Lighty's miss, made the putback and drew a foul. He made the free throw to give Ohio State a 14-point lead that was never seriously threatened.

"It was good to see because in the first half he gave up a couple of buckets," Matta said. "I told him at halftime that you've got to stay ready. We're going to go with you again."
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/02/22/0222-ohio-state-notebook.html?sid=101
 
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Indiana Native Thomas Torches Feeble Hoosiers
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Jared Sullinger played only three minutes in the first half of Sunday?s game because of foul trouble, but the Buckeyes didn?t miss a beat without their star freshman against outmatched Indiana.

Fellow freshman Deshaun Thomas channeled his inner Sullinger, tallying 22 points and four rebounds against his hometown team, as second-ranked Ohio State (27-2, 14-2 Big Ten) demolished Indiana (12-17, 3-13) by a score of 82-61 in Columbus.

?It felt great,? said Thomas, made seven of his nine shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 behind the arc.

?Every day in practice Coach (Thad) Matta was telling me we need you, and after today I?m proud of myself and my teammates.?
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http://www.the-ozone.net/hoops/10-11Mens/Indiana/gamer_2.html
 
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Deshaun Thomas scored 13 points against Purdue on Jan.25 and went missing.

In the seven games between that 24-minute appearance against the Boilermakers and Ohio State's 82-61 win over Indiana yesterday, he shot 5 of 25 from the field, scored 13 points and logged double figures in minutes - barely - just twice.

Given that Ohio State coach Thad Matta normally has only six other players in his rotation, Thomas' regression wasn't the best of signs for a soon-to-be-No.1-again team less than two weeks before tournament season.

"Every day in practice, Coach tells me, 'We need you, Deshaun. We need you. We need you,'" Thomas said.

Does Matta really believe that?"
​
"Yeah, I really do," Matta said. "And to Deshaun's credit, he has never wavered. His attitude has been phenomenal."

If you've been around the 6-foot-6 freshman for even five minutes, that wouldn't surprise you. A normal player would probably have been discouraged, disgruntled or dis- something with all of the on-the-court struggles and diminishing playing time. But Thomas always seems the same. If he gets the ball and has enough room to breathe, it's probably going up, no matter how many shots he has missed or how little he's played.
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"We see it every day in practice," senior David Lighty said. "Once he gets it going, there's really no way to stop him, just try to keep it out of his hands.

"He's been working hard every day and doing other things besides scoring that (are) helping us win."

Some of the little things aren't so little; Matta obviously wants to see him play defense.

"We see him make those shots in practice," Matta said. "The big thing for me is (him) just continuing to hone in on defense and really getting him to understand defensively what he needs to do. I saw some really good signs today."
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...as-re-emerges-at-just-right-time.html?sid=101
 
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Microwave Heating Up at Right Time
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? It doesn?t take much for Deshaun Thomas to get going.

Most players need to see three or four shots go in before they really start feeling it.

Not Thomas.

Not only does the Ohio State?s streaky freshman have one of the quickest triggers in college basketball, he can also heat up faster than just about anyone. As soon as that ball hits the bottom of the net one time, he?s ready to go.

?He warms up pretty doggone quick,? OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said of the 6-foot-6 freshman, fittingly known as ?the Microwave.?

?He warms up quick. I think with Deshaun the whole key is with what he is ready to do on the defensive end. The reads that he's making and the intensity that he's bringing there.?

Cont...
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http://the-ozone.net/hoops/10-11Mens/PennState/thomasHeating.html
 
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College basketball: OSU freshman Deshaun Thomas impressive in Tournament debut
Filed by Shaun Bennett March 19th, 2011

CLEVELAND - Ohio State freshman bench player Deshaun Thomas made the most of his NCAA Tournament debut.

Entering Friday?s game midway through the first half, Thomas helped spark a late run that put the game away for the Buckeyes. Thomas finished with 13 points and eight rebounds in a 75-46 victory over Texas-San Antonio.

?I think you forgot to mention the most important stat - he had three assists today,? Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said. ?I think we?ve seen throughout the course of the season that Deshaun can score in bunches. Defensively, I thought he was very good today - they had him out guarding on the perimeter.?

Thomas also showed great versatility. Of his five baskets, two were 3-pointers, two were layups and one was a midrange jump shot.

?At the beginning of the season I was with the guards, then I was going back and forth with the bigs and then I stayed with the bigs to help them out,? Thomas said. ?The coaches said my outside game was already there and they wanted me to work on my inside game.

?But I had played all over in high school - you play all five positions in high school. Mostly I played inside, but once in awhile I?d step out and shoot threes and run point guard a little bit.?

What about the eight rebounds?

?That?s one of the reasons they recruited me, because I can rebound all over,? Thomas said. ?They said I?m the best offensive rebounder on the team. I had the ability in middle school. There was one game where I had 44 rebounds. I finished with 44 rebounds, 33 points and 11 assists.?

That?s quite a line on any level, but even a big game like that probably didn?t put as big a smile on his face as he had during Friday?s NCAA Tournament opener.

?It was pretty special,? Thomas said. ?Once you?re out there, I?m like, ?I?m in the NCAA Tournament and I?m a freshman.? So it felt like a great atmosphere and I was happy to be there.

?It was every kid?s dream and my dream came true - coming in here and scoring in double figures during my first time in the NCAA Tournament.?
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http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/...eshaun-thomas-impressive-in-tournament-debut/
 
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The biggest thing I noticed in DeShaun's game was that he looked to pass as much as looked to shoot. He was in tune with the team more than ever before. I even thought his game was perfect yesterday.
Congrats on your Game DeShaun.
 
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Scorer Thomas learning defense comes first
BY DAVE HACKENBERG
BLADE SPORTS COLUMNIST
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CLEVELAND ? William Buford sees the similarities between himself three-plus years ago and current Ohio State freshman Deshaun Thomas.

"Oh, yeah, a lot," Buford said Saturday as the Buckeyes prepared for this afternoon's NCAA third-round game against George Mason at Quicken Loans Arena.

"You get here and you learn you have to play defense and rebound," Buford, the former star from the former Libbey High School, said. "All we had to do in high school, all we really cared about to be honest, was shoot and score. It's different here."

Thomas has followed that learning curve all season. Using the 1-to-10 scale he gave himself a 1 as a defensive player when he first arrived on OSU's campus.

"I was way better than that," Buford said, laughing. "I was a 2. But I'd give Deshaun a 7 or an 8 now."

Well, maybe. The freshman from Fort Wayne, Ind., while not yet a polished lock-down defender by any stretch of imagination, surely has become more of a complete player. He played 20 minutes against Texas-San Antonio on Friday and had eight rebounds, second to Jared Sullinger's team-high nine, and three assists. While he was in for David Lighty or Aaron Craft, and matched with opponents on the perimeter, team defense did not suffer a bit.

"Defensively, I thought he was very good," coach Thad Matta said. "And he really has a knack for finding open areas, finding the seams. Making the kick-out passes he did was exciting. I was very happy to see him play like that in his first NCAA tournament game."

That's because there are sure to be more. But we can't ignore his calling card. Thomas made 5 of 7 shots, two of his hits from 3-point range, for 13 points. That's seven attempts in 20 minutes. That's what Thomas does.

The light may have three colors, but he sees only green.

It is what he did to average 30-plus points over his final 54 prep games, what he did to win Indiana's Mr. Basketball honor as a senior, what he did to be rated as the No. 1 small forward in the nation by most recruiting services. It's the reason Matta fell in love with him and it's the reason he may someday take his place among OSU scoring greats.

For now, he waits his turn, something that might not have been the case if Thomas, in the proud tradition of many Mr. Basketballs from the Hoosier state, had landed at Indiana University.

"It probably would have been different if their program hadn't been going through stuff, but the way it was it wasn't my fit," the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Thomas said. "There was a lot of pressure on me. Fort Wayne is home. Indiana is home. But my heart was at Ohio State."

Cont..
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http://toledoblade.com/DaveHackenberg/2011/03/20/Scorer-Thomas-learning-defense-comes-first.html
 
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A quest to improve
Deshaun Thomas learning to rise to new levels on court, in classroom
By Tom Davis
of The News-Sentinel

Deshaun Thomas learned a lot in his first season at Ohio State. Most of all, he learned there is no time to relax when it comes to improvement.

Thomas visited the Bill Hensley Memorial Run-N-Slam Tournament at Spiece Fieldhouse over the weekend, and it was one of his rare moments of free time. He won?t complete the spring quarter academically until next month, but he and his Buckeyes teammates are hard at work in the gym, making sure next season doesn?t fall short of expectations.

?We?re working out and doing a lot of skill work,? Thomas said. ?Also, the next three months I?m going to be doing a lot of work to get stronger.?

Thomas was in an unfamiliar role this past season ? he sat the bench. After being a heralded player in high school, he discovered what it meant to sign with one of the best college basketball programs in the country. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged just 14 minutes per game, but he made an impact, particularly at the offensive end of the floor.

Thomas averaged 7.5 points per game and is the third-leading returning scorer for Ohio State (34-3 this past season) next season. He believes production can take a leap forward by focusing this summer on a couple of areas of his game.

?I?m going to be working a lot on my ballhandling,? he said. ?Also, I?m going to do more conditioning.?

The Buckeyes graduated three players who started all 37 games (Jon Diebler, David Lighty and Dallas Lauderdale), so it appears that Thomas will see not just more time on the floor, but perhaps even earn a starting role.

Ohio State returns All-American forward Jared Sullinger (17 points, 10 rebounds per game), along with perimeter players Aaron Craft (177 assists) and William Buford (14 points per game, 44 percent from three-point range).

?We?re going to be a more explosive team next year,? Thomas said. ?We?re going to dominate and be more exciting.?

He admitted he ?had fun this year? at Ohio State, but it wasn?t all post-victory celebrations. The Bishop Luers graduate has worked diligently in the classroom.

?I?ve done pretty well,? Thomas said.

He earned a 3.0 GPA one quarter and Thomas said Buckeyes coach Thad Matta?s attention to academics doesn?t allow players to cut corners in the classroom.

?You?ve got to do your work,? Thomas said. ?Coach Matta always talks about taking care of business off the court. He said in all of his years (as a coach), he?s never really had a guy that has messed up with his grades. He?s really serious about you doing your schoolwork.?

Thomas said Matta is also serious about his forward?s personal development and believes he can play a pivotal leadership role next winter.

?Coach expects me to be the person that I am next year,? Thomas said. ?He wants to see maturity, me playing hard and always working on my game.?
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http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110510/SPORTS/105100312/1002
 
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Re: "We're going to be a more explosive team next year?" Thomas said. "We're going to dominate and be more exciting"?

I thought that they dominated (32-2, 16-2) and were exciting/explosive last year. So needless to say, if they can improve on that....WOW!

:osu:
 
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