COLUMBUS — When Jaloni Cambridge told her family she wanted to take an unofficial visit to Ohio State, her father, Desmond, didn’t know much about the program.
A former basketball player at Alabama A&M, who lives in SEC country, his perception of the Big Ten was slow teams led by big post players. The conference wasn’t even a viable option for Jaloni’s older sister Kennedy when she was coming out of high school and eventually committed to Kentucky.
But after Jaloni went on her visit and came home in love with the Buckeyes, Desmond turned on the film. He quickly saw what his daughter loved so much about the scheme — the Buckeyes were fast.
Under Kevin McGuff, Ohio State had become an up-tempo, press-focused team that relied on ball pressure and constant movement. “I was like, ‘This is different,’” Desmond said.
Along with the press, the Buckeyes leaned on a dynamic, in-your-face point guard to lead both the press and the offense. At the time that was Jacy Sheldon, who went on to become the fifth pick in last year’s WNBA Draft. Desmond envisioned Jaloni in that role for the Buckeyes, albeit in her own way. “I thought she’d fit perfectly,” he said.
And she has.
Cambridge arrived in Columbus last summer knowing she wasn’t going to just fill Sheldon’s shoes. She wanted to be herself — to bring her own swagger and game to the program.
The No. 2 recruit in the country, according to ESPN, she blocked out all of the expectations and pressure and focused on helping Ohio State however McGuff needed her to. It led to a better freshman season than she ever expected.
She averages 15.4 points, 3.9 assists and 1.9 steals and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year as well as a unanimous first-team Big-Ten selection by the conference coaches — the first player since Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark to earn that dual honor.
The Tennessee native has bigger goals, beginning with this year’s NCAA Tournament, where No. 4 seed Ohio State will play No. 13 seed Montana State on Friday in Columbus.
“Tournament time and game on the line time, she plays different, she’s like a whole different person,” Desmond said.
Cambridge’s first few weeks on the court last summer were difficult. She struggled to insert herself into the offense and defense. She wasn’t sure where she fit yet, which is common for freshmen, so she held back the swagger and freestyling that made her game so dynamic in high school.
“The coaches kept telling me, not necessarily you can do whatever, but you can do whatever. Just go out there, be yourself and play your game” Cambridge said.
It didn’t take her long to get back to her normal, which didn’t come as a surprise to those who know her best.
She grew up in a family of seven siblings, all basketball players. Competition in their house wouldn’t allow anybody to doubt themselves, because if they did the other siblings would be on them quickly.
“Nobody got treated nice,” Cambridge said with a laugh. “Some would say it’s bullying, but it only helped us. You get up here and somebody tries to treat you like that, it doesn’t work.”
Desmond had a front-row seat to the competition. He’d watch as his children raced to the kitchen table or even when his second-oldest, Desmond Jr., would attempt to take on the rest of the siblings by himself in basketball, and Jaloni would direct traffic so they could beat him.
“She would say, ‘OK you stand over there, I’m gonna stand here, he can’t guard all of us,’” Desmond said. “He would put up a fight. … They are their hardest critics, they hold each other accountable.”
It’s part of the reason Cambridge is so unfazed on the court. She has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.51 this season, which makes her one of four freshmen guards ranked in the top 150 in that category.
Desmond, who coached some of Jaloni’s youth teams, said she’s always excelled with ballhandling and composure. As a second-grader, she played on Kennedy’s fourth-grade team. Although she was the smallest player on the floor, and would sometimes cry to her dad about her lack of playing time, her ballhandling was beyond her age.
“She was the best ballhandler, she was just super little,” Desmond said. “They always came to the gym and were playing so much. Once I saw they wanted to actually do it, we started doing drills. One practice we did nothing but ballhandling.”
As she got older, her ballhandling work carried over and her speed developed. The growth in her game this season comes from her ability to balance that speed with playing in the half-court game.
She always has been the fastest player on her teams, and since she was in the fourth grade, teams had to guard her differently because they couldn’t press her. It was nothing for Cambridge to blow by two defenders and either get an easy basket or set up her teammates.
Eighth grade was one of the most pivotal times of her career as she relocated to Florida to start at Montverde Academy, one of the nation’s premier basketball programs.
“That was one of the scariest moments of my life,” she said. “But I was around the right people at the right time. It was amazing to be around people who were going to the next level and had the confidence they passed down to me.”
At Ohio State, Cambridge has found her role on a team that includes sister Kennedy, who transferred there. Jaloni doesn’t chase points, so when her shot isn’t falling, she’s happy to get her teammates involved. She doesn’t chase assists, either, so if Ohio State needs her to score she can take over a game, scoring 29 points or more four times this season. McGuff moves her to shooting guard at times to help her seek her shot instead of deferring to teammates. And if McGuff needs her to focus on ball control and defense, she can do that. She’s even happy on the bench.
“I never come out in a game thinking I’m going to be the star,” Cambridge said. “I’m going to do what’s more important for my team.”
In Ohio State’s 87-84 overtime win over Minnesota this season, she fouled out with 1:16 left and watched from the sideline as the Buckeyes battled back. She didn’t put her head down on the bench.
“Honestly, I like being on the bench, I’m the biggest cheerleader. I love to see my team succeed,” Cambridge said.
But she has always had her own goals, too.
She wanted to play on the U17 World Cup team, and she accomplished that, winning a gold medal. She wanted to win a national championship, and she won three in high school. She wanted to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and she did that, but not without some nerves. As the Big Ten awards were being announced, Cambridge was scrolling through her phone, and instead of waiting for the announcement, she decided to go to the one place that would ease her mind: the gym.
In the middle of the workout, an Ohio State assistant coach told her the good news. She was relieved, mostly because it meant others thought highly of her. But after digesting the news, she went right back to her workout.
Jaloni Cambridge had a dominant start to her Buckeyes career in her first season 💥
Cambridge earns B1G Co-Freshman of the Year honors as voted by Big Ten coaches and media.#B1GWBBall x 𝐁𝟏𝐆 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 pic.twitter.com/gqtbRweroe
— Big Ten Women’s Basketball (@B1Gwbball) March 4, 2025
For Cambridge, this season has been everything she could’ve wanted and more.
“I had goals set, obviously,” she said, “but the main one was just to be happy and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, so this was the most life-changing decision I’ve ever made.”
That happiness doesn’t change because the stakes get higher in March, either. The idea that she’s going to be playing in the NCAA Tournament lights up her face because she’s been waiting for this moment since she was a kid watching split-screen women’s basketball games on the family TV.
But the win-or-go-home motto of March doesn’t change her mindset.
“I’m a big girl, living in a big-girl world. All the nerves have to go,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Ohio State Buckeyes, Women’s College Basketball, Women’s NCAA Tournament
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