Josh Oglesby spent his Sunday afternoon exploring the 3-point line, hurling shot after shot from a multitude of positions. More often than not, he found the bottom of the net from beyond the arc – 7-of-11 times, to be exact.
This was the Oglesby that Iowa basketball fans expected to see during the 2012-13 season, when the then-sophomore struggled to the tune of a 27-percent success rate from deep. This was also the Josh Oglesby that was missing from Kevin Sanders’ Prime Time League team for the previous four summer games — each of them losses.
Oglesby sat out the first four games of the summer league because he was nursing a broken finger — “I hit it on the bottom of the backboard, and it popped,” he said — but he returned Sunday to help lead his and Devyn Marble’s Prime Time team to its first win of the summer, a 134-98 rout over Coach Ron Nove’s squad.
“It was fun,” Oglesby said. “I hadn’t really gone live in like three or four weeks, so it was nice to get out here and get up and down a little bit.”
Oglesby’s 26-point, 4-board, 5-assist performance began rolling from the opening tip. The Cedar Rapids native first touched the ball by corralling a rebound that he turned into an assist. Oglesby actually missed his first shot before sinking his next three to help push his team to a 13-3 advantage in the first three minutes of play.
Sanders soon sat Oglesby on the bench for a breather before putting him back into the game at the 12:56 mark. From there, Oglesby struggled to find a rhythm in his shot for the remainder of the half and made just two more buckets to finish the first half with 11 points.
Still, he was a force on the offensive side. Oglesby assisted a few of his teammates during the first 20 minutes, helping his team to a 63-46 halftime lead.
“It made a huge difference. I was glad to have him,” Sanders said. “He made great passes. Obviously, his 3-point shot was pretty consistent. He just brings an added dimension to the team that we needed.”
Oglesby continued his hot afternoon in the second-half, sinking four treys. His 26 points was second on the team to Marble’s 35. Marble also finished the game with 10 assists, many of which were dished to Oglesby before his 3-point shots.
The game as a whole lacked defensive efforts from both ends, and it’s also worth noting that Oglesby and Marble practically scored at will against a team that was without Iowa’s Aaron White and Darius Stokes.
Kyle Schlaak was also missing from Nove’s team, who, along with White and Stokes, would’ve likely made a significant difference on both ends of the floor.
Even then, Oglesby’s mere presence allowed for his team to spread the floor. Marble played the point often during Sunday afternoon’s contest and found summer-league teammates Drew Bentley and Nick Lyon (who scored 21 and 19, respectively) open when the defense closed the passing lane to Oglesby.
“When we have all of our pieces, we’re a good team,” Marble said. “I was able to do what I wanted off the dribble with shooters around me … I’m able to just dissect the defense when you have that space.”
“To have [Oglesby] was really important,” Sanders said. “… and we feel really optimistic about our chances in the playoffs. There’s a lot of confidence now.”