Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge’s hunger to win runs within her family

Desmond Cambridge Sr. could see the signs of a winner in his daughter Jaloni early on. 

Cambridge remembers a summer workout in 2008 when he was practicing with his oldest daughter, Jordyn, on an indoor court in their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. They were working on ballhandling, specifically dribbling through the legs. In the corner, trying to copy her big sister, was 3-year-old Jaloni Cambridge.

“She couldn’t do it. She was crying,” Desmond Cambridge said. “I was like, ‘You’re not supposed to be able to do this.’” 

Then he gave the toddler a choice.

“I said, ‘Look, you’re not going to be in here crying, because you’re disrupting this workout,’” Desmond Cambridge said. “‘So either you’re going to sit over here and try to do it and learn and take your time, or you can go sit over there in the bleachers.’”

Jaloni Cambridge wiped the tears off her face and decided to stay on the court. For the next 30 minutes, she practiced the crossover move until she was able to do it successfully.

“She didn’t say another word. That’s kind of like, how I knew,” Desmond Cambridge said. “She’s one of those people who — there’s going to be things that she might not know how to do, but she’s willing to learn, willing to try to get better at it.”

Jaloni Cambridge would go on to become one of the top youth players in the state of Tennessee, then one of the most coveted players in the country in the 2024 high school class. Now, the Ohio State sophomore is one of the best talents in all of college basketball, and after winning this season’s Big Ten scoring crown and earning a spot on the all-conference first team, Cambridge is ready to lead the No. 3 seed Buckeyes into the NCAA tournament.

“It’s basically like ever since she’s been little, she just gets better year to year,” Desmond Cambridge said.

To grow up in the Cambridge family home was to grow up in an environment with plenty of love and even more competition. 

Jaloni Cambridge is the sixth of seven siblings. On a daily basis, anything that could become a contest did become one, from playing Connect Four or the latest video game to finishing dinner the fastest.

Each of Cambridge’s older siblings played college basketball at various levels. When it came to the basketball court, Cambridge learned quickly she wouldn’t be given anything easy, despite being several feet shorter than her siblings.

“It was understood that if you wanted to be a part of the family basketball games … there was no coddling. Jaloni learned that … I want to say around 4,” said Stephanie Dyer, Cambridge’s mom. “We let them know, we’re very solution-oriented. We’re not going to sit around and mope about the problem. What can we do to fix it? Jaloni had to figure out how she could be faster and how to be more productive on the floor.”

Cambridge plays with a persona that is boisterous and celebratory, traits required of a guard who at 5-foot-7 is capable of dropping 30 points on any given night.

It’s a stark difference, though, from the person she is once she takes off her athletic goggles. 

“I’m definitely very laid-back,” Cambridge said. “I try not to do too much. I kind of fall into my role, however that comes.”

Dyer said Cambridge’s reserved nature stems from her being a younger sibling.

“Having to sit back and kind of figure out where she fits in within that group of siblings and kind of waiting your turn,” Dyer said. “It teaches you patience, to observe and to really pay attention so you can catch on, because it’s not a lot of one-on-one time with Mom and Dad because you have so much going on in the house.”

If you ask Desmond Cambridge what it looks like when Jaloni Cambridge is playing at her best, he will say it’s when his daughter makes the game look slow. It’s when she is seemingly playing with no effort, deploying her crafty style, utilizing her high IQ and tantalizing speed to facilitate or score in five-minute bursts on the floor.

Ask Jaloni Cambridge the same question, and her answer reveals a very different perspective.

“I feel like I’m at my best every time I’m smiling,” she said. “That normally happens every time during the game, because there’s always a reason to smile. I love this game so much.”

There are goals she sets for herself to improve her individual game — add a couple of points to her scoring average, improve her shooting percentage or 3-point shooting.

The joy for Cambridge, though, is derived from her experiences on the court. She’s able to separate the competition and the camaraderie in a manner that seemingly keeps her from being consumed by the sport itself. 

Cambridge can be a “dawg” on the court, but she plays the game for the teammates who flank her and the places the game has taken her.

“[It’s] the people. I have so many friends outside that I grew up with just from basketball,” she said. “I’ve been to so many places. The experiences and the advantages that I get just from making baskets — that’s really it.”

That distance Cambridge has created between herself and the game also has been a benefit in the locker room.

Kennedy Cambridge, Jaloni Cambridge’s older sister and a redshirt junior guard for the Buckeyes, calls her sister her “biggest safe zone.”

“When we lose a game, obviously she’s mad. But her first thing — I get really mad — she’ll come up to me and say, ‘This isn’t the end of the world,’” Kennedy Cambridge said. “‘Go home. We’re going to play again.’”

Last offseason brought turnover to Ohio State’s roster. The team lost a prominent leader in Taylor Thierry and a frontcourt piece in Ajae Petty to graduation. In April 2025, Cotie McMahon, a cornerstone of the program for the previous three seasons, entered the transfer portal, ultimately landing at Ole Miss.

Suddenly, Jaloni Cambridge, who in her first season was a unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection, found herself having to step into an even bigger role as a sophomore than she likely anticipated.

Cambridge leaned on her experience from high school, which she began playing in the eighth grade, eventually facing a similar situation as an underclassman tasked with piloting a team.

Perhaps the most useful knowledge for Cambridge to draw from, however, was her time growing up as the second youngest of her siblings.

“I learned a lot from my older siblings,” Cambridge said. “It’s always a journey and a learning lesson, and it’s never going to go right at first. I just kept trusting myself and my teammates and the people that are in my circle.”

Kennedy Cambridge has been impressed by how her younger sister has handled the task. 

“It takes a lot to not only carry your team but to do it at this level. Her being able to do that, that’s something that I don’t think that many people can do,” Kennedy Cambridge said. “Being a point guard is already hard. Being a point guard and being the person that also runs this team in and out, that’s a lot of maturity. I’m proud of her for that.”

On Jan. 14, following an Ohio State win over Penn State in which Jaloni Cambridge had a game-high 33 points, reporters asked Buckeyes head coach Kevin McGuff how Cambridge’s game compared to that of program legend Kelsey Mitchell, who left Columbus as one of the best scorers college basketball had ever seen. Cambridge’s performances this season, both on the court and on paper, have drawn comparisons to Mitchell.

Cambridge has shied away from comparing herself to others — not necessarily because she finds such comparisons limiting but more so because she believes in every player being an individual.

“I know my game. I know what I’m capable of doing,” said Cambridge, who is averaging 22.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. “If I compare myself, I don’t want to be like everyone else. If you’re going to compare me to somebody, I want to be better than that person, then.”

In January, Cambridge became the first Ohio State player since Mitchell to score at least 25 points in three consecutive games — a feat she accomplished once more at the end of the month.

McGuff, though, highlighted a key difference between the two players. 

“They are so similar in that they are so quick up the court and they have command of the ball,” McGuff said. “Kelsey was probably a score-first mentality. Jaloni might be a little more of a pass first, then score.”

It’s a classification that Cambridge agrees with. For someone who has an innate ability to score, she doesn’t necessarily have an inclination for it. Cambridge doesn’t believe in forcing the issue, needing to be the game-high scorer — she aimed to lead the Big Ten in assists this season, but ultimately finished eighth.

It’s an interesting dichotomy for an Ohio State team that relies on her scoring for success.

“If I’m able to get to my spot, I’m obviously not going to pass that up,” Cambridge said. “When the ball is in my hand, there’s so much attention on me. So I know if it’s not going my way, I know that my teammates are open. It’s whatever’s open.”

Cambridge pointed to a late-game possession in the Buckeyes’ Jan. 19 contest against TCU. With Ohio State up one point and less than 30 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, a play was run for Cambridge to get downhill and attack the basket. Cambridge, without a clear opportunity at the rim, opted to dribble out and find teammate Chance Gray, who sank a crucial 3-pointer.

“Every shot that she takes, she wholeheartedly believes it’s for the best of the team,” said Kennedy Cambridge, who also played with Jaloni in high school. “Every play she calls, like, she’s doing it for her team. She’ll never take a selfish shot.”

Desmond Cambridge and Dyer have always placed an emphasis on their children to give back, however and whenever they can. When it became clear to them Jaloni was on a path to become a real star in the sport, they asked her how she wanted to give back to her community.

“One of the things she wanted to do was make sure that she hosted a camp in her city,” Dyer said. “We always talk about taking care of home first. You can never, ever, ever forget about the people who have been clapping for you since, you know, you were little.”

Beginning in Jaloni Cambridge’s senior year of high school, the Cambridges gathered some of their closest friends to help bring her vision to life. In 2024, the family hosted its first Jaloni Cambridge Dream Big Girls Basketball Academy camp in Nashville, which included a skills camp for players as well as a workshop for parents. Most important to the Cambridge family, the daylong event — now in its third year — is completely free to the community.

“It makes me realize how much of an impact I’ve made,” Cambridge said. “It’s only up from here. … I really just want to put smiles on people’s faces, no matter where they make it in life.”

As Cambridge prepares for her second shot at the NCAA tournament, she will have another chance to reintroduce herself and her game to a national audience.

Most important for her, though, is having another opportunity to do everything she can to lead this Buckeyes team to victory.

“Not everyone gets that opportunity,” Cambridge said. “Any chance that I get to step on the court with this team, I’m going to give it my all. So I’m excited to win.”

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