She has Greene Light
2/15/2020 9:58:00 AM | The People
FEB 15 2020
While hard work may not always lead to instant gratification, it will usually push you in the right direction when it becomes a long-term habit.
In the case of the Ohio State women’s basketball team, this life lesson has become increasingly relevant – especially for its floor general, Madison Greene.
Assembling a 25-point, seven-assist performance against Minnesota this past Thursday, the freshman guard recognized the opportunity in front of her to step up for the team and continue the momentum its developed recently. Extending the Buckeyes’ winning streak to four games ahead of its matchup against No. 20 Indiana on the road, Greene had a feeling it’d be a special night.
“I just really came in and tried to be as focused as possible. I feel like these last couple practices we’ve been preparing really well as a team, and my coaches trusted in me. I just felt like I had a lot of confidence out there,” she explained.
While that confidence propelled Greene to one of her best statistical outputs at this early stage of her collegiate career, she remains committed to continuously improving alongside her teammates throughout the course of this season and beyond.
“Of course my main goal is just to help make the team better,” she said, “but individually I want to continue to grow as a point guard, learn more about the game and how to control it – just become more offensive-minded. Sometimes I don’t think of myself, I always want to get it to everybody else, so I just want to be somebody the other team looks at [as a threat] with scoring as well.”
I want to continue to grow as a point guard, learn more about the game and how to control it.
It’s quite the balancing act to know when it’s best to take over or serve as more of a facilitator for the team, especially for a player so new to the college game. However, for such a complex task, it appears that the answer for it can be boiled down to something simple: instinct.
“It’s just a feeling,” Greene admitted. “I feel like coming into this game, I really wanted to make an impact for the team. I feel like I had one really good game [against] Michigan, and since then it’s been kind of quiet, solid games, but I wanted to stand out, so I really focused on trying to be best as I could that game.”
That game against Michigan she referred to resembles a strikingly similar result for Greene compared to her efforts during Ohio State’s most recent battle. While she’s been able to maintain a consistently steady average of 7.5 points per game throughout the season, against the team’s biggest rival she was able to rally 23 points in 36 minutes for a much-needed win.
Greene embraces sharing the pleasure of contributing to a successful group at an early age with her fellow teammate in the backcourt, Jacy Sheldon. As another freshman who earned a starting spot midseason, Sheldon has also earned high praise from her point guard.
“It’s been a great experience,” Greene smiled when asked about playing with Sheldon. “During high school I played against her and heard about her. She was a phenomenal scorer, a phenomenal player and she’s a phenomenal person as well, so just to have her on the team has really helped. I can really trust her to be consistent with the shooting and rebounding – she’s a great rebounder as a guard.
“I know she loves to run the floor, so as a point guard I always look to pass it up to her so she can get a layup or get somebody else open.”
Such a connection between Greene and Sheldon specifically mirrors the cohesion the team as a whole has developed together throughout the year both on and off the court. Greene cites this as important to keep up going into the season’s final stretch.
“We’ve been trying to focus outside of just basketball so we can really build that chemistry, which would help on the court as well,” she said.
