After Sunday’s 60-57 victory over the Spartans, interim coach Jake Diebler gave Royal the most credit for his read on this play, even though he completed the afternoon with a career- and team-high 14 points.
Diebler stated that the player’s poised takeaway of the ball out of bounds was “the biggest play of the game” for him. That’s a lot for a rookie to do in this situation. pleased with Devin. I believe that he has an incredibly bright future. We have no reason to doubt that he will carry out some pretty fantastic deeds today
According to Diebler, Ohio State had a play prepared for when Royal took the ball out of bounds. But Michigan State coach Tom Izzo pulled it away, forcing Royal to wait for a second cut from sophomore guard Bruce Thornton before locating him in traffic to pass to.
With 0.2 seconds remaining, Dale Bonner’s leaning 3-point effort above Tyson Walker’s extended arms swished past the net as Thornton, holding the ball, turned the corner, pushed it up the left sideline, and advanced the ball to him. This marked Ohio State’s first victory at the Breslin Center in twelve years.
Although Royal’s influence on the play isn’t mentioned in the official play-by-play or the box score, this was his most noticeable performance in a year of producing sparks.
We were definitely wounded by Devin Royal, who hasn’t been playing much, Izzo remarked. “Aside from Royal, their stats don’t really show much promise.”
With six of eight points, Royal finished with 14 points. In a career-high 17:54 off the bench, the Pickerington Central graduate added two steals and two rebounds. When Jamison Battle was forced to miss games due to an ankle injury, Diebler said on Monday that Royal was expected to play more than normal against the Spartans because of his style of play and the matchups Michigan State offered.
