STILLWATER — Freshman Ibrahima Thomas isn't sure exactly what type of player he is. He is nearly 7 feet tall, so all signs would point to the low post, but Thomas admits that he has an infatuation with playing on the perimeter.
Thomas's very good friend James Anderson, on the other hand, has no such identity crisis. He is a scorer, plain and simple.
So at practice last week Thomas decided to try on a new hat, one that must be borrowed from senior Marcus Dove: defensive stopper.
In a scrimmage, Thomas insisted that he guard Anderson, OSU's leading scorer at 20.8 points per game. Anderson hit a 3-pointer, and the chatter started.
"Someone needs to switch with Thomas,” a player said.
Thomas insisted. Anderson hit another 3.
"Someone else take James,” another player said.
"He only have six points in 25 minutes,” Thomas insisted.
"We didn't really play 25 minutes,” Thomas confessed later. "But I just say it to make me excited and everybody laughs so it makes practice fun.”
Anderson blew past Thomas on the next play and finished with a dunk.
"I remember when he come down, he said ‘I'm about to score this one, set me a screen,'” Thomas said. "By the time I was talking to him I got screened and he went to the basket and scored.”
After that, Obi Muonelo started guarding Anderson.
Thomas's desire to defend Anderson might be too lofty, but the Senegal-born freshman does have above-average guard skills for a big man.
"How many people you know 7 feet tall can guard the three, shoot the 3?” fellow freshman Marshall Moses said. "I think he's a (three or a four) but he's so big he's got to be an inside player.”
Perimeter defense comes more naturally because Thomas grew up playing soccer. Footwork in soccer defense and perimeter defense in basketball have a lot of similarities.
"The coaches are doing a good job teaching me how to play inside,” Thomas said. "But I've only been playing basketball four years. (Playing on the perimeter is easier) but some times I ain't going to lie, I get lazy and they just go right by me.”
Particularly if "they” are Anderson. That said, Thomas was begging back on Anderson again on Monday.
"It's just like a challenge,” Thomas said. "Because he can score. He's so good. So that's fun for me.”
