As his college career ends, Ohio State's Jamison Battle grateful for the journey
The look, as far as last-second, season-saving, contested 3-pointers go, was a pretty good one. There was nobody on this Ohio State roster better equipped to shoot it, and it was a minor miracle that Georgia even allowed Roddy Gayle Jr.’s final pass of the season to reach its intended target.
Against all odds, Jamison Battle was going to get one more chance to decide things. A one-year transfer, using the extra year afforded to him by the NCAA for playing during the COVID-19 pandemic, Battle’s most prolific season would hinge on his sweet, left-handed stroke as he fired what he hoped wouldn’t be the last shot of his collegiate career.
Off his fingers, Battle thought it was good. He snapped his hip toward the basket, a move he works on daily with assistant coach Brandon Bailey. He had a size advantage and, after Gayle inbounded the ball with 1.2 seconds left, Battle launched the 1,639th shot of his career and the 2,125th shot of Ohio State’s season. A full-throated crowd of 7,641 stared as the ball sailed toward the net, found the rim and glanced away, cementing Georgia’s 79-77 win against the Buckeyes in Tuesday night’s NIT quarterfinal game.
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Jamison Battle's moment
Just like that, it over for Battle, who came to Ohio State in search of the first NCAA Tournament appearance of his career. Instead, he navigated a disappointment start to Big Ten play and a shocking in-season coaching change while emerging throughout as a dependable, savvy veteran leader and captain to a team seemingly headed nowhere a month and a half ago. It was a lot to process, and the true emotions of it all likely won’t be felt for weeks, if not years.
Yet when that shot didn’t fall, and the final buzzer sounded, a wry smile creased Battle’s face. The season was over and this wasn’t where he wanted it to end, but given everything that had taken place to this point, what else could he do?
“How can I be mad in that moment?” Battle, who scored a team-high 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, said. “I’ve played 100-plus games in college basketball. I’ve played five years. I got to play at home. I got to play at Ohio State. I played in the best conference in the (country). How can I be mad at that? How can I be mad at one single moment when it comes to an end?”
It’s not hard to imagine an easy answer to that question that runs perpendicular to Battle’s line of thinking. With a 14-11 record and a 4-10 Big Ten mark as Valentine’s Day dawned, Ohio State was submarining to the Big Ten basement after an eight-point loss at Wisconsin the night prior marked the ninth loss in 11 games. On Feb. 14, it led retiring athletic director Gene Smith to fire coach Chris Holtmann and move associate head coach Jake Diebler into the job on an interim basis.
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Then everything flipped, Ohio State won eight of 11 games, Diebler was given the full-time job and the Buckeyes extended their season with two wins in the NIT leading into Tuesday night’s game. What felt like a tale of two seasons culminated with the loss to the Bulldogs, a game with 13 lead changes and five ties that Ohio State led 76-75 with 2:02 left before Noah Thomasson’s go-ahead jumper over Devin Royal with 36 seconds left.
“We obviously figured it out a little too late, but we took every moment for what it was and with that, we just went out and played,” Battle said. “That’s what this group of guys did. We played for each other. We’re a family. No one else is going to know what happened in that room in mid-February but we all came together and wanted to finish this season out strong.”
Battle and fifth-year senior Dale Bonner are the two scholarship players on the roster to have fully exhausted their eligibility. There’s no next year at this level for them, but as players in black Georgia jerseys celebrated all around him Battle sought to comfort his teammates rather than look for their comfort. He ran to the stands and hugged his mom, joined his teammates for a final playing of “Carmen Ohio” and eventually made his way to the locker room.
He wasn’t alone in trying to appreciate the moment. Fourth-year senior Zed Key, who still has one year of eligibility, hugged his parents and held his hands aloft in a heart symbol as he made his way off the court for what might have been his final time.
Diebler said Battle’s ability to be there for his teammates in a moment that could’ve been all about himself spoke to the impact he will leave on the program.
“You get to that point and you respond in that way when you know you’ve given it everything you have,” the coach said. “He’s given it everything he had, so in that moment he can reflect and say, job well done, because he did. He’s poured everything had into this group, especially down the stretch.”
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Now begins an offseason of questions for the Buckeyes. Diebler will have to fill out his coaching staff, work to assess and retain as much of the roster as he desires and also scour the transfer portal for additions. Some needs won’t be known until decisions are made by current players.
That starts as soon as Wednesday, given the current college basketball calendar. Battle, though, now prepares for a professional career, one he nearly pursued last year after his second season at Minnesota before coming back to attack unfinished business – playing in March Madness. His journey wound from two years at George Washington to two more at his hometown Minnesota before this final coda with the Buckeyes.
“I was so blessed and fortunate to have a five-year career in college and to score 2,000 points, to win some games, to play in the NIT,” said Battle, who topped the 2,000-point career mark against the Bulldogs. “Obviously we didn’t make the (NCAA) Tournament, but this group is the most fun I’ve had and this is the most connected I’ve been with a team. I didn’t take it for granted. I lived out every moment.
“I can’t help but be sad that it’s over but just be glad that it happened.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State's Jamison Battle grateful for his journey as career ends
