No. 17 Ohio State gears up for Big Ten play with big matchups on the horizon
When Ohio State defeated Belmont 84-55 on Dec. 22, it marked the end of the Buckeyes' nonconference schedule. Now, their full focus is on Big Ten play.
"This is a great conference, we’re going to have our hands full every night with great coaches, great players, a lot of mature teams," Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff said. "So, it's gonna be a little tough.”
Last season, Ohio State went 12-6 against conference opponents in the regular season, earning the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, where the team made it to the championship before falling to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes, 105-74.
The Buckeyes' lineup has seen some big changes since then, the most significant of which was the loss of leading scorer Taylor Mikesell after her final year of eligibility. There have also been key additions, including reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year Celeste Taylor, who is averaging 7.9 points and 2.2 steals per game with OSU.
Regardless of the makeup of Ohio State's roster, though, coming out on top of the Big Ten in 2023-24 will be far from an easy task. Players like Clark and Mackenzie Holmes of Indiana are standing in the way.
Ohio State already had its first taste of how tough the league can be after hosting Penn State back on Dec. 10. While the Buckeyes picked up a ten-point victory, the Nittany Lions gave OSU a run for its money, controlling most of the game.
That marked the first of Jacy Sheldon's three 30-or-more-point performances in the month of December, and it marked the return of Buckeyes' guard Madison Greene. Both are key factors for the team as the season rolls on, with Sheldon being a top producer and Greene adding depth to the bench.
Through their 11 nonconference games this season, two of which they dropped to future Big Ten opponents USC and UCLA, the Buckeyes solidified the type of game they want to play.
"We like to go fast, our pace is fast, so any transition buckets, we like to get those," Sheldon said. "We have it in us to be really good in our press and half-court defense and in transition defense, which I think we know we need to improve on.”
As it stands, Ohio State is leading the conference in forcing an average of 22 turnovers per game. Looking back on their season-opening loss to USC and their most recent one to UCLA on Dec. 18, McGuff saw where his team went wrong.
"We have to be the aggressor and sort of impose our will on the game if we're going to be who we're capable of being," McGuff said. "If you see some of these games that we lost, the press was really good, and then we just weren't as aggressive at times. Anytime we've been the most aggressive team, we've been right where we want to be, but we have to develop them closer to 40 minutes."
Ohio State, which is ranked No. 17 nationally has a challenging conference schedule up ahead starting with the Michigan Wolverines (10-3) in Ann Arbor on Dec. 30. Within the next two months, the Buckeyes will also face No. 16 Indiana and is set for a rematch with Penn State on the road.
Their toughest competition will come against No. 4 Iowa. Ohio State faces the Hawkeyes twice in the regular season, the first being at Value City Arena on Jan. 21.
"This conference is no joke," Sheldon said. "Everybody knows how good it is. We haven't had a lot of easy games, and we won’t coming up, so I think it's prepared us really well."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: No. 17 Ohio State gear up for Big Ten play
