Heading into Ohio State’s top-10 showdown with rival Indiana on Sunday, Lenzelle Smith Jr. was earning praise as Ohio State’s fill-in-the-cracks starter.

A 6-4, 205-pound sophomore, Smith claimed the opening at off-guard and quickly showed he could mesh with playmaking point guard Aaron Craft, smooth wing William Buford, offensive-minded four-man Deshaun Thomas and All-American center Jared Sullinger.

Smith’s lunch-pail approach seemed to be a boon to OSU’s chemistry as he understood his role of tertiary scorer and consummate hustler. One season after being slowed by a hand injury and languishing near the end of the bench he was a full-fledged first-teamer averaging 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds a game.

Days before the matchup with Indiana he was content with his unglamorous role, but admitted he was, well, a naïve freshman just last year.

“I came in like, ‘Let’s all get points; let’s all shoot the ball,’ so it was a transition for me,” said Smith, a prolific scorer and stat-sheet stuffer at the prep level at Zion (Ill.) Zion-Benton. “It’s a role thing. It’s, ‘What do you have to do to play?’ And I want to play.”

Therefore, no one – not even Smith himself – would have predicted the offensive explosion that unfolded before a sellout crowd and CBS national television audience on Sunday. The lefty guard found himself open on the arc and with the ball in his hands on fast break and suddenly began to pour in baskets like Martha Stewart hosting a tea party.

After each team tallied with a field goal, Smith scored to provide a 4-2 lead the Buckeyes would never relinquish and only expand. Ironically, he missed a pair of free throws moments later, but that didn’t slow down his trigger or confidence.

The stubborn Hoosiers continued to remain unconcerned with him and Smith burned the tactic repeatedly. In fact, 12 minutes into the game, IU had 12 points – a number matched by Smith. After drilling a three in the final seconds of the period, he ended the half with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting including 4 of 5 from long range.

The befuddled Hoosiers had 14 points in the half.

Smith had 10 more points in the second half as he made all three field-goal attempts and all four free throws.

He entered the game with a career high of 12 points, a feat achieved on New Year’s Eve in the 74-70 loss to Indiana.

After the Buckeyes got their 80-63 revenge on Sunday, Smith was asked if he could remember the last time he had such a productive game.

“I really can’t,” he said with a broad grin.

“You’ve got to give him a lot of credit,” Craft said. “He understood they thought he wasn’t going to be able to knock down shots, and today he made them pay.”

It was a quite a performance for a player of allegedly limited ability – even one who admits he had dreams of joining the scoring parade upon arrival.

Smith was a well-regarded, top-100 recruit when he committed to Ohio State, but some wondered how he would fit into a crowded backcourt, especially since he’s neither a pure point guard or lights-out shooter.

His critics grew when he was hampered by a wrist injury to start last season and never dented the rotation. He played just 91 total minutes in 20 games as a freshman, almost all of them in mop-up duty, and averaged just 1.2 points and 0.8 rebounds per game.

After his 28-point, seven-rebound effort on Sunday, Smith’s averages for this season are now up to 6.4 ppg and 4.7 rpg, the latter figure ranking second on the team.

“That’s one of the better things that he does,” Craft said of Smith’s rebounding prowess. “He’s capable of doing that and he has done that well. It’s eased my mind a little bit knowing we still have a decent amount of players going to the offensive glass and at the same time knowing that we have to get back and orchestrate where everybody has to go.”

Smith’s gritty play sometimes matches and somehow augments that of Craft. In fact, Smith’s long arms, strength and willing to get into a low defensive stance make him no fun to face while on offense.

“He’s a pest,” said teammate Jordan Sibert, who often has to stare down Smith in practice. “But it’s good, though. He uses his length to his advantage. He does a great job of using his speed to keep people in front of him and he uses his aggression to keep people where he wants them to be.”

“I believe I’ve done my best to try to prove myself as a defender,” Smith said early in the season. “If someone was to ask me today would Coach (Thad) Matta have a problem with me guarding on the perimeter, my answer would be no because that’s what I’m taking pride in, my defense, and I think I’ve done pretty well with that.”

Smith had a very grounded ans realistic view of his worth to the team going into this season.

“My role will be to contribute as much as I can,” he said during media day festivities, “whether it be get in the game and lock down the other team’s best offensive scorer or come in and get a rebound and get the momentum going. I plan to just keep everything positive and try to be a glue guy for this team. And in the aspect of toughness, I think I can contribute that, too.”

That is more or less what Smith has contributed, and it’s perfectly fine with him, especially to take the floor as a starter for one of the elite teams in the nation.

“That is a whole different feeling,” he said. “At this time last year I was nowhere near ready to go or ready to play in a basketball game at this level. But that year has gone by, I’m healthy now and I’m ready to get things started.

“As exciting as it is, everybody is still surprising each other. Being such a young team we’ve got a pretty solid foundation of what each other does but here and there and in different situations when someone’s adrenaline is going someone might surprise another. I think that’s a great aspect.”

Smith certainly was surprising Sunday. Indiana head coach Tom Crean still was perplexed an hour after the game, when he finally graced reporters with his presence.

His inclusion in the starting lineup even was eyebrow-raising at the beginning of the year given that Sibert was the odds-on favorite to win the nod at shooting guard. Sibert is a more polished scorer, played more minutes last season and was an AAU teammate of Sullinger, Craft and J.D Weatherspoon, yet another sophomore contributor for the Buckeyes.

Early in the season, Smith downplayed any rivalry with Sibert and said their competition was purely healthy.

“Jordan is a great player and I think I deserve it to him to give him my best shot every day I come in here,” he said. “With me doing that I know I will better myself and at the same time make him better. I feel like that’s our job. If I have to go hard every day, that’s what I’ll do.”

Added Sibert, “Lenzelle is a competitor. Since we’ve had our first practice, it’s been competition, and it’s great. Of course, it is playing time at stake, but as long as we’re working together and we’re competing, as long as we’re trying to get the same win, playing time really isn’t that important.”

Smith has logged 22.6 minutes per game to Sibert’s 13.6 and has stayed on the court for longer stretches of late. He’s shooting 53.2 percent from the field and a nearly identical 53.1 from three-point range, which partially explains the faith the coaches and players have in him.

“As the games have been going on, we’ve been trusting each other a lot more,” Smith said. “That makes me happy. I’ve felt pretty good shooting the ball and my teammates kind of look for me now and they expect me to make those shots.

“As long as they keep trusting me and I feel connected with those guys on the floor, I think that’s a good thing we’ve got going.”

Smith, of course, is OK with being the one to lead the team in scoring again if the situation calls. But more than anything he wants to build off his bust-out showing vs. the Hoosiers simply by ensuring that he does whatever necessary to help the No. 6 Buckeyes (16-3, 4-2) continue to pile up victories.

“I just want to come out and play good basketball,” he said. “If they double off Jared and leave me wide open, hopefully I can continue to make shots. If not, there’s another guy hopefully I can help rotate the ball to that guy and make sure he gets the shot.”