From 0-1 to No. 1 seed: How did Ohio State women become the best team in the Big Ten?
If you had asked Ohio State women's basketball coach Kevin McGuff toward the end of December if he thought this Buckeyes team could win enough games to be where it is today, his answer would likely be no.
No longer the 2022-23 team that started the season 19-0 with Taylor Mikesell leading the way, Ohio State was quickly handed its first loss in the season opener against Southern California. Finishing nonconference play with two losses, the second against UCLA on Dec. 18, the Buckeyes closed out 2023 by falling to Michigan on the road 69-60.
"Last year we had a great start to the season, went through some adversity in the middle and kind of had to fight our way back," Ohio State's Jacy Sheldon said. "This year, we had adversity at the first game of the season. I think it's good to have that experience under our belt. I think this year we've done a great job of using those losses we have had and growing from them."
Once 2024 hit, something seemed to switch within Ohio State. Slowly but surely, the Buckeyes started to gain some steam, which cumulated with a 15-game winning streak and the Big Ten regular-season title.
Ranked as high as No. 2 during their run of success, the Buckeyes were unable to keep the streak alive heading into the postseason, losing to No. 6 ranked Iowa in the regular-season finale.
"I don't ever like to (say), 'Oh yeah, it was a good loss,' because I just don't like to lose and our players don't like to lose either, but we can take some things from it," McGuff said. "We need to learn from that, as we need to learn from the wins. I think, more than anything, we've handled winning pretty well since Christmas, and now we need to handle a tough loss."
As Ohio State enters the Big Ten Tournament as the top seed, set to face the No. 7 seed Maryland at 12:30 p.m. Friday, here's a breakdown on how the Buckeyes managed to turn their season around:
Nov. 6: Loss to No. 21 USC (83-74)
Starting the season in Las Vegas for the Naismith Hall of Fame Series, Ohio State was met with an overwhelming first challenge: USC freshman JuJu Watkins. While becoming one of the most high-profile players in the nation over the course of this season, Watkins' success began with 32 points against the Buckeyes.
Most of Ohio State's starting lineup, on the other hand, outside Sheldon with 28 points and Taylor Thierry with 16 points while going 5 for 6 from the field, struggled to find cohesion.
A new addition to the Buckeyes' lineup, Celeste Taylor, had one of her worst shooting performances against USC, hitting just one 3-pointer along with her four free throws. With both the press and half-court defense unable to come up with answers, Ohio State opened the season 0-1.
"To start off losing, it sucks, honestly, especially because we know the expectations that people had on us and then the expectations that we have on ourselves," Taylor said. "That loss kind of hurt us because we knew that we were better than that, but I think it also helped us because we knew how much we needed to work on."
Beginning of December: First ranked victories
After going 5-1 throughout the rest of November, Ohio State faced its first ranked opponent since USC in No. 20 Tennessee on the road. Putting together a full team effort with four of their starters scoring over 10 points, the Buckeyes defeated the Volunteers 78-58.
"Really everybody in the starting lineup could be averaging double figures," Taylor said while reflecting on the season. "I think that's pretty cool to say. I don't think there's many teams in the country that can say that."
After recording 16 assists in the Tennessee win, Ohio State continued to distribute the ball in its first Big Ten game against No. 25 Penn State. With 15 assists in the Buckeyes' 94-84 overtime victory, most of those assists landed in the hand of sophomore Cotie McMahon, who had 27 points.
Dec. 18: Loss to No. 2 UCLA (77-71)
Facing a second future Big Ten rival, as USC and UCLA are set to join the conference next season, not even Sheldon's 30-point performance could make up for Ohio State's rebounding deficit against the second-ranked team in the nation at the time.
Ohio State was outrebounded 40-30, and Bruins' 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts put up a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards.
Throughout the season, rebounding has been one of Ohio State's weaker areas.
Dec. 30: Loss to Michigan (69-60)
In what could be viewed as the catalyst for Ohio State's turning point this season, the Buckeyes picked up their first conference loss to the Wolverines on the road.
McMahon had her worst performance of the season with 5 points and no rebounds and appeared to hit a sophomore slump.
Jan. 21: Win over No. 2 Iowa (100-92)
Building momentum after opening 2024 4-0, the Buckeyes' true test took place in front of the biggest crowd in program history at Value Center Arena against Iowa.
Down by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter in a game in which the country's leading scorer, Cailtin Clark, scored 45 points, nothing seemed too big for the Buckeyes to overcome as they picked up arguably the biggest victory of the season in overtime.
"It’s that grittiness in us," Sheldon said. "I think there came a point where we flipped a switch and we knew what we were going to win the game and we knew we had to do to do it."
It was in this game, after scoring a career-high 33 points, that McMahon broke out of her slump.
Feb. 4: Win over No. 10 Indiana (74-69)
If Iowa was the biggest win of the season, the Indiana victory was proof that this wasn't a fluke. Picking up the 10th win in what would eventually be their 15-game winning streak, the Buckeyes' half-court defense was starting to come into its own.
Known for the press, Ohio State relied on that and strong half-court defense to stop the Hoosiers' leading-scorer Mackenzie Holmes from producing in the second half.
"We will continue to rely on our press, but it's cool to be able to continue to rely on half-court defense," Sheldon said. "Multiple games this year, we've had to switch from pressing to going half-court."
End of February: Big Ten Tournament No. 1 seed and Big Ten regular-season title
As Iowa and Indiana dropped games following their respective Ohio State losses, the Buckeyes kept on winning, defeating Maryland on Feb. 25 to secure the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
A few days later, going up against Michigan, the Buckeyes captured the Big Ten regular-season title with a 67-51 win.
"It feels great," said Ohio State's Rikki Harris following the title victory. "We're not finished yet, so it's hard to feel too excited because I know we have so much more to accomplish."
March 3: Loss to No. 6 Iowa (93-83)
The Hawkeyes were just too much to overcome a second time, with the environment at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for Clark's senior day giving Iowa a boost to help defeat the Buckeyes.
With the loss taking place right before the start of the Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State has been able to focus on what still needs to be improved.
"We need to take care of the ball better, transition defense has to be better and just kind of keeping our physical and mental cool," Sheldon said. "Just growing from that whole experience because we're about to go to another sold out arena."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How Ohio State women became No. 1 seed in Big Ten Tournament
