OHIO STATE
Terwilliger plays hard no matter what position
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG> NEAL C . LAURON DISPATCH Matt Terwilliger, left, began the season playing center while freshman Greg Oden recovered from wrist surgery.
In the waning minutes of a furious first half of basketball last week at North Carolina, Matt Terwilliger gave all who were watching a glimpse of what he?s capable of when he puts his mind to it.
Tyler Hansbrough, the more accomplished of the two bulls in a china shop, went up for a point-blank shot and Terwilliger defended it. Hansbrough rebounded the miss, put up another shot and Terwilliger blocked it. Hansbrough rebounded again, went up a third time and Terwilliger blocked it again, then grabbed the rebound.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta nodded with approval when reminded of the sequence later.
"I?ve told him this: ?You?ve shown us where your bar can be. Let?s keep it there,? " Matta said.
"Matt wants to. I think he wants to be a huge contributor on this team."
Terwilliger, a 6-foot-8 junior, spent the first seven games of the season, including exhibitions, figuring out how he could best contribute to the Buckeyes.
Just when he seemed to have figured it out ? a career-high 12 points against Youngstown State on Nov. 24, a career-high six rebounds at North Carolina five nights later ? he?s changing positions.
Pressed into service at center while Greg Oden recovered from wrist surgery, Terwilliger moved to power forward when Oden made his debut against Valparaiso last Saturday. He played alongside the 7-footer for several stretches in what Matta calls the Buckeyes? "bigball package."
Terwilliger merely laughed when asked what his role will be like now that the big guy is back.
"Easier," he said.
He said the mistake he made at the start of the season was thinking he had to do too much to make up for Oden?s absence.
"I felt that since I?d been working on (my three-point shooting during the offseason), they needed me to step out and shoot threes, and that?s something I had to include every game," Terwilliger said.
"Now, the more I?m playing and seeing how good our guards are, I?m just taking the open shots if they?re there. I?m not going outside the flow (of the offense).
"I think that?s something we?re all figuring out. Anyone on this team can make a shot and can create a shot for themselves. We just have to take what we can do and keep it in the flow of the offense."
Fifth-ranked Ohio State (7-1), which plays host to Cleveland State on Saturday in Value City Arena, is averaging 86.1 points, tied for 10 th in NCAA Division I.
Matta does not see Terwilliger?s role changing. As he did before, Matta wants him to use his athleticism to make plays at both ends of the floor and play with the energy to do it consistently. He said he told Terwilliger and Othello Hunter this week that they have in front of them "a golden opportunity to play off of Greg and dominate the other side of the floor down low."
Terwilliger said whether he takes advantage of the opportunity is a matter of how hard he goes after it.
"That?s something I?ve always needed to work on and I still need to work on, just bringing it every day," he said. "Sometimes I tend to slack off a little bit. I can?t take any plays off. I?ve got to play as hard as I can every play."
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