While D’Angelo Russell deservedly earned all of the headlines for Ohio State, there was another freshman for the Buckeyes who made quite a name for himself last season.
Jae’Sean Tate opened a lot of eyes in Columbus last year as he played with a tenacious style, something Ohio State fans weren’t exactly used to in recent years. He was aggressive, he was strong, tough and gave the Buckeyes a physical presence inside.
Tate did all of those things despite being just 6-foot-4, too. He’s an undersized power forward who makes up for his lack of size with his heart and hustle.
“Jae’Sean played like he was 7-foot-5 down there tonight,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said following the Buckeyes’ 82-70 win over Indiana, a game in which Tate scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds.
With Russell headed to the NBA after one season and Ohio State losing a five-man senior class, Tate will instantly become one of the Buckeyes’ leaders next year despite being just a sophomore.
That didn’t seem to faze the always-passionate Tate. Shortly following Ohio State’s 15-point loss to Arizona in the third round of the NCAA tournament, he realized he was instantly about to become one of the “older guys.”
“You just have to bring it every day. You can’t take days off in practice or in the games,” Tate said when asked what he learned from his freshman season. “The thing I probably learned the most is every play counts. Every little thing counts.”
Spend five minutes with Tate and it’s clear his expanded leadership role won’t be a problem going forward. On the court, though, he'll need to make some strides.
Tate’s lack of size isn’t going to change. He’s going to be an undersized power forward throughout the rest of his playing career. But that doesn’t have to be a problem if he can continue to develop and expand his game.
He already plays harder than just about anyone in the Big Ten. He’s physically strong and an underrated athlete who improved his one-on-one defense as the season went along. Where Tate can work to improve, however, is on the offensive end.
Tate was Ohio State’s best back-to-the-basket player last year despite his lack of size and post moves. He should continue to develop that part of his game and because he will likely go up against a guy bigger than him every night, he can expand his post game by developing an array of moves.
Perhaps the biggest improvement in Tate’s game, though, can come from mid range. If he develops a consistent mid-range jump shot he can turn himself into an All-Big Ten performer as just a sophomore. It’s going to take some work, obviously, as Tate did not look comfortable most of the time taking any sort of shot outside of the 12-foot range.
Matta has compared Tate to David Lighty on numerous occasions, but another former Big Ten player who he resembles is Draymond Green, who had a terrific career at Michigan State and has now developed into key contributor in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors.
Tate has a long way to go to get to that level, obviously but also has three years to improve in Columbus. If there’s a player on Ohio State’s roster who is going to work at it, Tate is that guy.
“No days off,” Tate said at the end of last season. “That’s been our thing all year is toughness so I’m gonna continue to try to build the toughness in our team with the young guys coming in.”
