COLUMBUS, Ohio -- JaQuan Lyle reached across the table and snatched the postgame stat sheet from under Jae'Sean Tate. Lyle wanted to admire it again after Ohio State's 94-68 win over Rutgers.

As Tate answered a question, Lyle looked over the paper with his head rested on his right hand. As he scrolled across the sheet he saw 6 for 13 shooting, 12 rebounds, 16 points and 11 assists. That puts Lyle in rare company at Ohio State, just the fourth Buckeye ever to notch a triple-double.

Lyle is on a list now with Evan Turner (who did it twice), Dennis Hopson and D'Angelo Russell, who fittingly accomplished the feat against Rutgers last year.

Comparisons to Russell's triple-double last year are easy, but it might have been the first time all season that Thad Matta compared Lyle to Russell in some fashion. It probably wasn't in the way you think.

"I give JaQuan credit, he's realized that if he can go in and get it, he can start the break," Matta said. "Evan figured that out and D'Angelo figured that out last year."

He was talking about rebounds. Not the points or the assists. Lyle had 10 rebounds in the first half and had his first double-digit rebounding game of the year. He had eight in a lopsided loss to Indiana on Sunday.

Everyone knew Lyle could score, he had 29 in that game against Indiana. He's had a game with 13 assists already this year too. The rebounding to get the triple-double, though, is the kind of thing Matta thinks of when he imagines Lyle hitting his full potential.

Matta looks at Lyle and envisions a kid who can someday become a nightly stuffer of the stat sheet. Wednesday's game was a glimpse against arguably the worst team in the Big Ten.

"I'm making shots. Creating for my teammates, that just comes from confidence from them, believing in me," Lyle said.

Even though he kept poring over the stat sheet, Lyle didn't want to take really any of the credit for his big night.

"With Keita (Bates-Diop), Marc (Loving), Jae'Sean and Trevor (Thompson) all making plays, they open up the lane for me, so I'm taking that. And when they do cut me off they're finishing. If it wasn't for them it would be hard to do what I'm doing right now."

Lyle is averaging 14 points, 7.8 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game in Big Ten play. But this was the first time all season that Lyle put it all together. He appears more aggressive, and to be making smarter passes and it's coming at the right time.

With Ohio State now entering a two-game road swing against No. 3 Maryland and No. 24 Purdue, the Buckeyes need Lyle at his best to have a chance at being in those games and hopefully steal one. A win like that would be a big boost to a tournament resume that's had the Buckeyes pretty much just off the bubble all year.

But doing it against a Maryland or Purdue and doing it against Rutgers are two different things. Lyle likely won't get much credit for his output against Indiana either, because the bulk of his points came in the second half when Ohio State was down by as much as 30.

Wednesday, though, was something different. A triple-double in the Big Ten is impressive no matter who the opponent, and Lyle really was a catalyst for an Ohio State team that needed one. The Buckeyes trailed Rutgers by two points at halftime, and looked like they might be falling into a hangover from the Indiana loss.

Lyle's play in the first half kept them afloat, and then his teammates started feeding off of that in the second half.

"JaQuan the last couple games has been playing great," Tate said. "We need him to continue to do that, stay aggressive. We've gotta get on board with him."

And that's the biggest thing that needs to carry over for Lyle.

It's unclear if he realizes just how important his nightly production and energy are to this team. Russell got that.

On Wednesday it worked the same way it did with Russell at times last year. Everyone can feed off a guy when he's locked in like that.

Lyle doesn't need to have a triple-double every game, but if he plays with that same assertiveness and awareness, he can become the player Matta envisions perhaps sooner than expected.

"It's a great thing to do," Lyle said. "Just gotta keep better every day and get another one."