By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - Matt Sylvester had plenty of reason the past two years for woe-is-me thinking. His cry instead was, "Work with me."

That's the crux of the nightly calls from the Ohio State swingman to his father, Mike, who starred at Dayton in the 1970s and played professionally for 17 years in Italy.

"He knows I've been through the whole thing, that I'll have some insights into things that others won't," Mike said. "For me, that's been tremendously satisfying."

Matt, a redshirt sophomore from Moeller, endured a tumultuous first season at OSU - redshirting because of calf and back injuries. He also suffered a broken hand and a gunshot wound in separate incidents.

As a redshirt freshman, he showed promise, starting 16 games, but endured a season-long shooting slump.

This summer, the 6-foot-7 forward bulked up 15 pounds and practiced his shot daily.

"I feel healthy for basically the first time ever here," he said. "I'm really ready to show Columbus what I've got."

He started doing so in two preseason games, averaging 14 points and shooting 60 percent (12-of-20), including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers.

Sylvester, the third-highest returning scorer (5.7 ppg) for the Buckeyes, was the Ohio co-player of the year in 2001. He was a key part of Moeller's 1999 Division I state title team, averaging 21.4 points and 8.0 rebounds as a senior.

His game was honed on skills that began as a toddler, when Mike Sylvester would toss him a rolled-up sweat sock to practice catching. At age 5, Matt decided he wanted to be a professional.

Success came easily until he enrolled in Columbus. The injuries, including a herniated disc that required surgery, cost him all but three games his first season; he successfully applied for a redshirt.

Then, in the summer of 2002, Sylvester broke his hand defending a friend who was attacked in an off-campus neighborhood and was hit in the buttocks with a .22-caliber slug when fleeing a party in Cincinnati.

"I felt very cursed," he said. "And it really opened my eyes to (the thought) your life can be taken away at any time. It made me appreciate life and stay away from things that can get you in trouble."

He began last season out of shape and out of sync. He shot 42 percent, including just 23.5 percent on 3-pointers (12-of-51). That was shocking to Sylvester, who had made 48 percent of his 3-point shots as a high school senior, and he leaned on his father.

"He calls me pretty much the minute he leaves the locker room" after road games, Mike said. "... It's made us incredibly tight."

Three weeks ago, Sylvester landed in the hospital after landing hard on his wrist. Yet he was back in practice two days later.

"Matt has a toughness about him people really don't see," his father said. "You can tell how determined he is about this season."

Season opener

Friday: at San Francisco, 11 p.m.

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com