In a topsy-turvy season, senior keeps his focus on the present
Isaac Likekele is big on keeping his focus where his feet are. On this Monday afternoon in late February, those feet are planted on the baseline inside Value City Arena, the building where the fifth-year multi-positional player is seated on a scarlet seat cushion.
The cavernous arena is empty save for the occasional Ohio State staffer making his way through on a random errand. Practice will be in the upstairs practice gym, and Likekele is hydrating with a yellow-colored Pedialyte beverage as his final game inside this temporary home looms. Two days from now, Likekele would participate in the postgame press conference with a purple-flowered lei around his neck after having scored 11 points in a 73-62 win against No. 21 Maryland on senior day.
Right now, though, is a moment for reflection on a year that hasn’t gone according to plan. In a way, the fifth-year graduate transfer says, it’s a fitting summarization of his career, one that saw him commit to Fresno State, reopen his recruitment when his coach left for a new job and go on to star at Oklahoma State for four years before rounding it out with the Buckeyes.
“Coming out of high school, I wasn’t supposed to be who I became,” Likekele said. “I wasn’t supposed to be as known as I am. I still think about the kid who was supposed to go to Fresno State. Even that was at the last second, too. It’s amazing what God does with people’s lives.”
The challenge this year has just been keeping up.
Brought in to provide depth in the backcourt as an experienced point guard and physicality in the frontcourt
as an undersized big, Likekele quickly assumed a primary role in the rotation and locker room. Voted a team captain weeks before making his official Ohio State debut, Likekele was third in minutes played, second in rebounds and first in assists after starting the first eight games of the season. Then everything stopped.
Back home in Texas, Likekele had a personal situation that required his
immediate attention. He has politely declined to discuss specifics on what happened, but it was significant enough for Likekele to take an openended leave from the program. He sat out the next three games, returning to sit on the bench for a loss to North Carolina in the midst of the stretch.
It was enough to question his future with the program, although Likekele said he never considered a premature ending.
“It was very hard, but I believe that your full focus has to be where you at,” he said. “To make sure that I was fully focused for this team and giving my all every time and not shorting them, I had to go back home and tend to some things. Then when I came back, I was right back fully focused onto what we was doing. I didn’t want anything hindering my focus from the team.”
Likekele returned for the final non-conference game of the year, a Dec. 29 win against Alabama A&M, but the rotation had shifted and his role had changed. Relegated to a reserve who was called upon for spot starts, Likekele’s playing time dipped and Ohio State’s season took a turn. After averaging 27.5 minutes in the first eight games, he will go to Michigan State on Saturday averaging 20.3 minutes in his past 19 games.
“Most definitely we are a different team without Ice,” freshman Roddy Gayle said in mid-January. “He just brings so much leadership, charisma, energy to the team.”
There have been flashes of strong play, like his near triple-double in a win against Iowa (18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists) or his 11-point senior night effort coupled with highlevel defense against Maryland. But while his absence was not the reason that Ohio State lost 14 of 15 games at one point, it added to the struggles of the season for the Buckeyes.
“It was a little slow start with how things was going for me and trying to find a rhythm (when I got back),” he said.
One thing Likekele won’t say, though, is that any of this was out of his control. Among his most strongly held personal beliefs is that his actions are his own and that there’s no difference between what you see and what you get. If he’s present, that’s the situation that has his attention.
It’s still not the season he had hoped for, but it’s shaping up to be a better ending than it looked headed for a week earlier.