Oso Ighodaro Steps Up for Suns in Gritty Win Over Warriors
PHOENIX - Not every impact player needs to light up the scoreboard - sometimes, the game changes in the trenches. For Oso Ighodaro, it was all about doing the dirty work, and his 13-rebound performance against the Warriors was a statement that didn’t go unnoticed.
The second-year big man got the nod to close the game in place of Mark Williams, and it wasn’t just a gut decision - it was a tactical move that paid off. Against a Warriors team that thrives on movement and perimeter mismatches, Ighodaro’s defensive versatility gave the Suns exactly what they needed.
Golden State’s offense constantly tests your bigs - pulling them out of the paint, forcing switches, and daring them to guard in space. Ighodaro passed that test with flying colors.
He was everywhere, locking in defensively, crashing the glass, and treating every rebound like it was the last one on Earth. You could see it in the way he hugged the ball after every board - this wasn’t just hustle, it was purpose.
“He played a long stretch, I think, in the second half,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said after the win. “A little bit of matchup and a little bit of feel.
Quentin Post was out there, and we wanted to switch as much as we could. Oso can play on the perimeter, and he obviously helped us on the defensive rebounding.”
But it wasn’t just the boards. Ighodaro racked up five steals - a number that jumps off the stat sheet for a center - and Ott made it clear that this is something they’ve been pushing him to do more of.
“He is a possession gainer,” Ott continued. “We’ve been on him about taking the ball.
Not only switching, but defensively being in front and taking the ball, which he’s shown great strength in since the middle of November. That was tonight.
You never know what will happen the next night - might be Mark. Tonight was Oso’s night.”
And that night wasn’t without a little fire.
Dillon Brooks, never one to shy away from vocal leadership, shared a moment that lit a spark. According to Brooks, it took three months for Ighodaro to finally snap at him - and it happened mid-game, right there on the bench in the second quarter.
Fun moment with Dillon Brooks and myself: I asked him about Oso Ighodaro’s 13-rebound performance, to which he replied “Finally. He yelled at me.”@KellanOlson followed up and asked if Brooks needs to ask those performances out of Ighodaro or forcing it out of him.
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) December 19, 2025
“It’s the… pic.twitter.com/T5t4bUfR32
From that moment on, the switch flipped.
Ighodaro’s energy went up a notch. His decisions were sharper, his rebounding more deliberate, and his defense even more disruptive.
It was the kind of edge the Suns needed in a game where neither team could buy a bucket from deep or find a rhythm offensively. Both teams shot under 30% from three and hovered just below 40% from the field - a classic grind-it-out battle.
Brooks, who filled up the box score himself, had nothing but praise for the big man’s effort.
“We needed his game today,” Brooks said postgame. “Played big.
Like you said - 13 rebounds, he’s all over the place. Played hard, so we need to do that every single game.
If I gotta pick on him and yell at him so he can do that every game, I’m going to do everything.”
That kind of accountability - and response - is what transforms potential into consistency.
Ighodaro was one of the few new faces that Devin Booker was genuinely excited about heading into the season. He’s always been high on the big man’s motor, athleticism, and feel for the game. And while the early part of the year had some sophomore growing pains, performances like this - and earlier flashes against Indiana and Portland - show what’s possible when everything clicks.
Thursday night wasn’t pretty, but it was revealing. In a game where finesse took a backseat to physicality, Ighodaro showed he can be the guy who does the heavy lifting. And Booker sees the value in that versatility.
“He’s been working. He’s put the work in, and it’s his time to show it,” Booker said. “We’ve been seeing it behind the scenes, and I think he’s getting more and more comfortable every game.
“He gives us the versatility to be able to play five out, play faster, switch a lot of actions. So I like the dynamic of having Mark and him, back and forth.”
With another matchup against the Warriors looming, the Suns could very well lean on Ighodaro again. If it takes a little sideline fire from Brooks to bring it out, so be it - because when Oso plays like this, the Suns get a whole lot tougher.