There has been something different about No. 19 Ohio State women’s basketball point guard Jaloni Cambridge this season. The distinction is not hard to see, but sometimes it goes unnoticed. Cambridge’s change is clear and on display in front of everyone’s faces, but not everyone has it in front of their face. The sophomore guard who came to Columbus, Ohio, as the highest freshman commit in program history made a discrete change entering the 2025-26 season — Cambridge now wears glasses during games.
“Well, I probably shouldn’t say this,” Cambridge told reporters, then took a brief pause. “I’ll say it. I’ve played like that my whole life, not being able to see. I got the opportunity this year, but it’s not like I’m not blind, like I’m not blind.”
Often, a lack of vision gets attributed to referees in basketball games, and Sunday was no different. Almost immediately, both coaches began lobbying with the officiating crew to try and earn even a crumb of favor on future possessions. When a whistle is blown, the alleged aggressor is not quick to take responsibility, and almost every time a contested ball goes out of bounds, there is a player twirling their finger in the air to try and get a review of the moment to get the call overturned.
In the first quarter, the latter happened to Ohio State. UCLA forward Sienna Betts and Buckeye guard Ava Watson each went up for a rebound, and the ball went over the baseline. Head coach Kevin McGuff swirled his index finger in the air after Watson looked over to the bench following the call of a UCLA possession.
It was a bang-bang play that often gets reviewed. The worst thing that could happen to Ohio State in that moment was the loss of a timeout, but with 35 minutes remaining in the game, that was hardly an issue. After McGuff went to a referee to request the review, Cambridge ran to the bench and said, “Don’t!”
Maybe Cambridge saw it better with an improved glasses prescription, maybe it was to avoid giving the Bruins a moment to collect themselves during Ohio State’s seven-point run, but either way, the game went on.
That was one of many moments that do not make a broadcast or highlight reel. In the second quarter, after Watson had two turnovers in the final 2:39 of the half, Cambridge yelled encouragement and instruction from the sideline, benched momentarily for accumulating two early fouls.
“You’re seeing her [Cambridge] start to blossom as a leader now,” McGuff told reporters. “She’s got a really high basketball IQ and the respect of her teammates, and so we need her to continue to flourish in that, in that role. And so I think you’ll see even more out of that from her.”
The play on the court speaks for itself. Cambridge led the Buckeyes with 28 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Even with 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts and a team full of size and experience on the Bruins, Cambridge picked her battles and found space inside the paint and within the three-point line to do damage to the Bruins.
A Cambridge basket stopped four UCLA runs of at least five points. The sophomore seemed to sense when the tide was turning and made a play to stop the momentum. That usually turned into Ohio State momentum.
In the fourth quarter, when the Buckeyes were down 14 points, it felt like the energy had been sucked out of the room. Some fans began to trickle out of the arena, but Cambridge kept leading. Ohio State scored 12 of the next 14 points, and in it, Cambridge scored five points and added a rebound, a steal, and an assist.
The play of a Cambridge-led Buckeye squad turned the equivalent of a library into a rave. Each basket pushed the decibel levels in the arena higher. It felt like the start of an Ohio State comeback that teams of the last few years nearly patented with how often they clawed back.
“Close game or not, just to keep fighting whether we’re losing or winning,” Cambridge said. “You walk into every game thinking you’re gonna win. You don’t want to go into a game thinking ‘Oh, we’re going to lose.‘”
Ohio State did try, but in the end came up short. The Bruins continued their stellar season, and the Buckeyes could only look back at the moments of a seven-point game that did not go their way. Another couple made baskets, one less turnover or a half-second quicker reaction time on defense.
However, the same can be said going the opposite direction. In November, the young Ohio State squad, which has only two seniors and three upperclassmen on the roster total fought in pockets but came away with a 38-point loss to the No. 1 UConn Huskies, which came with few positives. Six weeks later, Cambridge led the Buckeyes to the brink of an early upset in the Big Ten conference against the fourth-ranked team in the country.
“I just kind of reminded our team just to keep fighting, no matter what the score is, even if we were down by 30, like, just keep fighting,” Cambridge said. “We don’t want to walk out of here and say we didn’t try.”
Hindsight is 20/20, but the future and vision for Ohio State is a little clearer with Cambridge at the helm.
