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LGHL Ohio State women beat Michigan State 89-78 behind big nights for Jaloni Cambridge, Ajae Petty
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Ohio State women beat Michigan State 89-78 behind big nights for Jaloni Cambridge, Ajae Petty
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
A career game for Jaloni Cambridge and double-double for Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes a key Big Ten win.
The No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball team needed only one win to clinch a top-four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, therefore earning a double-bye into the quarterfinals. To do that, the Buckeyes needed to defeat the No. 23 Michigan State Spartans, who were trying desperately to stay in the running for one of the spots. A career-high 33 points for Jaloni Cambridge and dominant interior play by forward Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes the clinching 89-78 win, Wednesday in the Schottenstein Center.
Entering Wednesday, the Buckeyes and Spartans were first and second in the conference in steals, frustrating teams with their full-court presses. So it was easy to expect a defensive battle between the two top-25 nationally ranked teams. It was anything but, combining for 95 points in the first half and Ohio State were the aggressors.
After nearly a month and a half of cold shooting for forward Ajae Petty, and shrinking minutes for the graduate senior, the forward had a double-double Sunday against the Purdue Boilermakers. There was reason for skepticism that Petty was fully back to the form that made her one of only four SEC players averaging a double-double last season, with Purdue sitting in 16th place in the Big Ten and Ohio State winning by 52 points. Petty erased that doubt in the first half against the Spartans.
Petty played her best half of basketball in scarlet and gray Wednesday night. The forward was active on the boards and didn’t hesitate in her shooting, something that seemed to always end with a missed shot in previous games. The forward took firm control of her spot in the starting lineup with nearly a double-double in the first 20 minutes, scoring 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting with nine rebounds, three coming on the offensive boards.
Ohio State and Michigan State started the game each giving the ball away, but not due to their defensive prowess. The Buckeyes had a backcourt violation off of a bad pass and the Spartans overthrew each other for an out-of-bounds going Ohio State’s way. Both teams quickly knocked off the rust and began hitting baskets with regularity.
The Buckeyes hit more though, hitting two or three shots in a row to every one made attempt for the Spartans, and at a high clip shooting 66.7% from the floor in the first 10 minutes. Ohio State used their strong shooting to build a 10-point lead with 1:38 remaining in the first period.
However, Michigan State is known for not being down for too long. The Spartans play a lot like the Buckeyes of the past few seasons, never knowing a deficit they can’t overcome. Michigan State tried in the second quarter, but Petty was too strong for the Spartans, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds in the second quarter alone.
When Petty went out of the game, center Elsa Lemmilä picked up defensively. While former Oregon Duck forward Grace Vanslooten made a couple of veteran plays to get past Lemmilä in the paint, Lemmilä got the best of the junior in the second quarter. On one drive, Vanslooten went up for a layup that Lemmilä blocked away. Vanslooten got the loose ball and tried again but Lemmilä was there once again to knock the ball away. Those plus a block against guard Julia Ayrault in the first quarter and Lemmilä had three in the first half with only seven minutes on the court.
Ohio State took a 54-41 lead into halftime but still had 20 minutes left to try and hold off the hard-to-break Spartans.
Out of the halftime locker room, Michigan State tried to trim the lead, but Ohio State kept shooting and hitting shots with consistency. Petty started with a layup, bringing her scoring total to 19 so far in the game. Then freshman Jaloni Cambridge and junior Cotie McMahon took over the scoring. The two combined for 22 of the next 24 points in the quarter, with Cambridge going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and McMahon hitting both of her threes in the period.
Defensively, Ohio State held the visitors to 27.3% shooting from the floor in the third quarter, including two more blocks from Lemmilä to match her career high of five, which she had against the Ohio Bobcats. On the other side of the court, the Buckeyes hit 69.2% of their shots and It helped the home side extend their lead to 20 points.
Michigan State wouldn’t be counted out so easily and the Spartans started the fourth quarter strong. In the first three minutes of the period, Sparty scored nine of the first 11 points of the game, trimming the deficit to 13 points and causing head coach Kevin McGuff to call a timeout and regroup his side.
With 4:16 remaining, Michigan trimmed it to a seven-point game when the Spartans stretched their run to 12 points. McMahon stopped the run with an attack to the basket, ending a run of nearly six minutes without any points for Ohio State.
On the next offensive drive, after a stop on the defensive end, Cambridge hit a jumper to bring the lead back to double-digits, prompting a timeout from the Green and White.
That pause in play and an Ohio State foul gave MSU two free throws, but the Buckeyes responded again with Cambridge and Petty each hitting shots inside the paint, putting the lead back up to 13 points with 1:31 remaining. It was a lead Ohio State wouldn’t give up, beating the Spartans to earn an important double-bye and a quad one win for consideration in hosting early rounds of March Madness.
Cambridge led all scorers with 33 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Petty scored 23 points on 11-of-11 shooting with 15 rebounds, five coming offensively. McMahon added 17 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
Michigan State guard Theron Hallock scored 29 points, going a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. Vanslooten nearly had a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Ohio State has one more game left in the regular season, and it’s a tough one. The Buckeyes head to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 19 Maryland Terrapins on Sunday, March 2. The game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FS1.
Head coach Brenda Frese’s Terps are the only Big Ten side the Buckeyes have faced twice this season. On Jan. 23, Maryland traveled to Columbus and returned home with a 74-66 defeat.
However, Maryland lost without guards Bri McDaniel and Shyanne Sellers. While McDaniel is still out for the remainder of the season and beyond with an ACL injury, Sellers returned following the defeat to Ohio State and has Maryland playing strong basketball again. The Terrapins have four wins in the last five games but get one less day of rest than the Buckeyes before Sunday’s game. Maryland travels to Bloomington, Indiana, to face the Hoosiers on Thursday night.
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ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images
A career game for Jaloni Cambridge and double-double for Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes a key Big Ten win.
The No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball team needed only one win to clinch a top-four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, therefore earning a double-bye into the quarterfinals. To do that, the Buckeyes needed to defeat the No. 23 Michigan State Spartans, who were trying desperately to stay in the running for one of the spots. A career-high 33 points for Jaloni Cambridge and dominant interior play by forward Ajae Petty gave the Buckeyes the clinching 89-78 win, Wednesday in the Schottenstein Center.
Entering Wednesday, the Buckeyes and Spartans were first and second in the conference in steals, frustrating teams with their full-court presses. So it was easy to expect a defensive battle between the two top-25 nationally ranked teams. It was anything but, combining for 95 points in the first half and Ohio State were the aggressors.
After nearly a month and a half of cold shooting for forward Ajae Petty, and shrinking minutes for the graduate senior, the forward had a double-double Sunday against the Purdue Boilermakers. There was reason for skepticism that Petty was fully back to the form that made her one of only four SEC players averaging a double-double last season, with Purdue sitting in 16th place in the Big Ten and Ohio State winning by 52 points. Petty erased that doubt in the first half against the Spartans.
Petty played her best half of basketball in scarlet and gray Wednesday night. The forward was active on the boards and didn’t hesitate in her shooting, something that seemed to always end with a missed shot in previous games. The forward took firm control of her spot in the starting lineup with nearly a double-double in the first 20 minutes, scoring 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting with nine rebounds, three coming on the offensive boards.
Ohio State and Michigan State started the game each giving the ball away, but not due to their defensive prowess. The Buckeyes had a backcourt violation off of a bad pass and the Spartans overthrew each other for an out-of-bounds going Ohio State’s way. Both teams quickly knocked off the rust and began hitting baskets with regularity.
The Buckeyes hit more though, hitting two or three shots in a row to every one made attempt for the Spartans, and at a high clip shooting 66.7% from the floor in the first 10 minutes. Ohio State used their strong shooting to build a 10-point lead with 1:38 remaining in the first period.
However, Michigan State is known for not being down for too long. The Spartans play a lot like the Buckeyes of the past few seasons, never knowing a deficit they can’t overcome. Michigan State tried in the second quarter, but Petty was too strong for the Spartans, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds in the second quarter alone.
When Petty went out of the game, center Elsa Lemmilä picked up defensively. While former Oregon Duck forward Grace Vanslooten made a couple of veteran plays to get past Lemmilä in the paint, Lemmilä got the best of the junior in the second quarter. On one drive, Vanslooten went up for a layup that Lemmilä blocked away. Vanslooten got the loose ball and tried again but Lemmilä was there once again to knock the ball away. Those plus a block against guard Julia Ayrault in the first quarter and Lemmilä had three in the first half with only seven minutes on the court.
Ohio State took a 54-41 lead into halftime but still had 20 minutes left to try and hold off the hard-to-break Spartans.
Out of the halftime locker room, Michigan State tried to trim the lead, but Ohio State kept shooting and hitting shots with consistency. Petty started with a layup, bringing her scoring total to 19 so far in the game. Then freshman Jaloni Cambridge and junior Cotie McMahon took over the scoring. The two combined for 22 of the next 24 points in the quarter, with Cambridge going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and McMahon hitting both of her threes in the period.
Defensively, Ohio State held the visitors to 27.3% shooting from the floor in the third quarter, including two more blocks from Lemmilä to match her career high of five, which she had against the Ohio Bobcats. On the other side of the court, the Buckeyes hit 69.2% of their shots and It helped the home side extend their lead to 20 points.
Michigan State wouldn’t be counted out so easily and the Spartans started the fourth quarter strong. In the first three minutes of the period, Sparty scored nine of the first 11 points of the game, trimming the deficit to 13 points and causing head coach Kevin McGuff to call a timeout and regroup his side.
With 4:16 remaining, Michigan trimmed it to a seven-point game when the Spartans stretched their run to 12 points. McMahon stopped the run with an attack to the basket, ending a run of nearly six minutes without any points for Ohio State.
On the next offensive drive, after a stop on the defensive end, Cambridge hit a jumper to bring the lead back to double-digits, prompting a timeout from the Green and White.
That pause in play and an Ohio State foul gave MSU two free throws, but the Buckeyes responded again with Cambridge and Petty each hitting shots inside the paint, putting the lead back up to 13 points with 1:31 remaining. It was a lead Ohio State wouldn’t give up, beating the Spartans to earn an important double-bye and a quad one win for consideration in hosting early rounds of March Madness.
Cambridge led all scorers with 33 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Petty scored 23 points on 11-of-11 shooting with 15 rebounds, five coming offensively. McMahon added 17 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep.
Michigan State guard Theron Hallock scored 29 points, going a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. Vanslooten nearly had a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds.
What’s Next
Ohio State has one more game left in the regular season, and it’s a tough one. The Buckeyes head to College Park, Maryland to face the No. 19 Maryland Terrapins on Sunday, March 2. The game will tip off at 4:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FS1.
Head coach Brenda Frese’s Terps are the only Big Ten side the Buckeyes have faced twice this season. On Jan. 23, Maryland traveled to Columbus and returned home with a 74-66 defeat.
However, Maryland lost without guards Bri McDaniel and Shyanne Sellers. While McDaniel is still out for the remainder of the season and beyond with an ACL injury, Sellers returned following the defeat to Ohio State and has Maryland playing strong basketball again. The Terrapins have four wins in the last five games but get one less day of rest than the Buckeyes before Sunday’s game. Maryland travels to Bloomington, Indiana, to face the Hoosiers on Thursday night.
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LGHL The legacy of Rikki Harris — the selfless overcomer
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The legacy of Rikki Harris — the selfless overcomer
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Erik Schelkun
Harris left Ohio State after five seasons, but her impact shaped the Buckeyes program
Take a second and think of what pops into your head when you read the word “legacy.” It might elicit images of your favorite athlete’s accomplishments. Maybe it's deeply personal, causing reflection on the kind of impression you hope to leave on people when it’s all said and done.
In college sports, legacy is tricky. Use the way of thinking that has become less realistic over the years since the introduction of the transfer portal and NIL, and legacy means staying with at a school for the love of the university. A philosophy conveniently forgotten when coaches switched from school to school for larger paychecks.
Now when a player transfers, to fans it often becomes a scarlet letter. Coincidentally seen similarly to the red “A” in the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne novel given for its adulterous main character. In college sports, it breaking the sanctity of a relationship between a player, a school and all who call the school their own.
On March 24, 2024, the Ohio State Buckeyes season ended; A premature end to a campaign where the Scarlet and Gray earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, led by All-American Jacy Sheldon and two-time transfer student and National Defensive Player of the Year candidate Celeste Taylor.
For both graduate seniors, that was the end of their college careers. All that remained in college were their legacies. Redshirt senior Rikki Harris had a choice to stay at Ohio State, enter the transfer portal or close the book on her NCAA playing career. After the tournament upset defeat, Harris had to answer the question — was she staying or was she going?
“That’s a coach McGuff question.”
On Feb. 12, Harris stepped onto the court of UD Arena in front of over 12,000 screaming school-aged children for a weekday lunchtime field trip day game. Along with it comes a deafening wall of sound that makes it hard to think, let alone try to play a game of basketball.
Within two minutes, the Buckeye turned Dayton Flyer drove to the basket, took contact and hit two free throws. Fast forward a minute and a half later and Harris added a steal and a block.
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Erik Schelkun
Rikki Harris in the opening minutes of the Feb. 12 game between Dayton and Davidson, in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton was not where Harris expected to be 10 months prior when she publicly announced her entrance into the transfer portal, 10 days after Harris’ final game in scarlet and gray. Between Ohio State’s final buzzer, the last nail in the coffin of the season against the Blue Devils, and transfer announcement season began on social media, Harris and Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff had their end of the season conversation.
“He made it clear that he wanted his freshmen and young people to get experience,” said Harris. “I wanted to play my last year in basketball because I don’t want to play after. I want to coach. So after I heard that, I just knew I couldn’t be there because I wanted to play ball for my last time ever.”
Harris wasn’t kicked off the team or replaced. After all, Harris already played a bench role for the Buckeyes in all four years where she was healthy and able to play. That continued for the 2023-24 season when Harris came off the bench as Ohio State’s sixth player.
Instead of continuing that role, playing behind what eventually became the backcourt of freshman Jaloni Cambridge or junior Chance Gray, Harris joined the portal in hopes of playing closer to her home and family in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After playing predominantly as a guard for the Buckeyes, Harris also wanted to play as a power forward. In the portal, Harris had two chances near Central Indiana, including a potential move within the Big Ten to the Purdue Boilermakers that didn’t come to fruition.
Despite building a reputation as a reliable team leader, Harris reached out to her mentor and former coach Tamika Williams-Jeter when offers weren’t coming.
“I wasn’t gonna call her cuz I knew she’d probably go power forward. So I knew when she called, I was assuming that she was calling to say, ‘hey, I’m down to these couple of schools’ cuz it was late,” said Williams-Jeter. “She was on FaceTime and she kind of looked at me and said, ‘so you weren’t gonna call me?’ And I was like, ‘no.’”
Williams-Jeter and Harris went back to the Flyers’ high school days at North Central, recruiting Harris when Williams-Jeter was an assistant coach at Penn State. When Williams-Jeter moved to coach under McGuff at Ohio State for the 2019 season, Harris followed, although the freshman missed the 2019-20 season recovering from a shoulder injury.
The strong relationship between Harris and Williams-Jeter let the coach be up front with Harris. Dayton didn’t need a power forward on their roster, so she didn’t even consider Harris as an option to join the Flyers program.
“I don’t think we were where she thought she was gonna end up,” said Williams-Jeter. “But I think the relationship weighed in and that’s how we really got her”
After Harris convinced coach Williams-Jeter that she wasn’t only trying to play the four, the graduate senior committed to Dayton near the end of the transfer window. Harris visited Dayton in the summer, when most players already left campus. The family-like atmosphere was clear when most came back simply to meet Harris on her visit. Including Dayton’s leading scorer Ivey Wolf.
“Ivey, she came in that morning when I got here to say hi to make sure she met me after her 21st birthday,” said Harris. “So for one of their top players to do all that, you know what happens on 21st. So she kind of had a little hangover. I ain’t going to say too much. But she made sure that I knew she cared. And that was huge.”
Harris found a new home an hour west of the Schottenstein Center, now playing slightly closer to home and for a coach who put so much into the life of the college athlete. Playing for coach Williams-Jeter was a perfect match not only because of their longstanding relationship but Harris wants her road to look like her coach’s journey.
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University of Dayton women’s basketball
Dayton head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter and Rikki Harris
Williams-Jeter starred for the UConn Huskies at the turn of the millennium. The Dayton high school grad won two national titles under head coach Geno Auriemma, on top of personal accolades like the 1999 Big East Freshman of the Year award and a six-year WNBA career. Harris isn’t looking at her coach’s trajectory of playing pro, no. Harris found her desire to coach since her redshirt freshman season where the guard sat on the bench, watching McGuff, Williams-Jeter and the staff work.
So, a move to Dayton made sense to not only continue Harris’ playing career, but to keep learning from a mentor who has already accomplished so much in coaching, moving her way up to leading a Division I program. It’s also a style of coaching Harris respects and wants to emulate.
“The culture is great. They hold us to a high standard,” said Harris. “We all get treated evenly. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best player, the worst player, senior or freshman, you’re going to get the same treatment no matter what.”
“That’s what I harp on is just everybody getting treated equally,” said Harris. “Equality, equality, just all that above. I just love to see everybody get treated the same.”
Harris is also fair with herself and her own playing expectations of potentially playing professionally. The guard knows it’s probably not likely with how difficult it is to land somewhere professionally and due to a list of injuries that have slowed down her collegiate career.
In eighth grade, Harris suffered the first of two ACL tears, the second coming after she committed to Ohio State. Then it was a torn labrum in her shoulder. While the former Buckeye is realistic when it comes to her future, look back at the success of Ohio State on the court over the past three seasons and Harris’ game left an imprint on the program’s biggest moments.
When Harris finally made it onto the court in her second year as a Buckeye, it was foreshadowing for the rest of her Scarlet and Gray career. Harris started on Dec. 6, 2020 against Northern Kentucky of the Horizon League. It was the only game Harris started and it was because of Oklahoma State transfer Braxtin Miller didn’t suit up.
It was an early season rout, a commonplace for power conference schools. When Big Ten play came around, Harris went the way of many freshman at Ohio State and played a more subdued role as Sheldon and guard Madison Greene, who came in with Harris, took most of the minutes as sophomores.
Harris broke through in her second year on the court when point guard Kateri Poole went down. The guard only missed a couple games, but McGuff used it as an opportunity to move Sheldon to point guard. With Greene out injured with an ACL tear and transfer shooting guard Taylor Mikesell playing lights out next to Sheldon, Harris started the rest of the season as the third guard.
The spot was perfect for Harris. With Sheldon and Mikesell taking on the scoring responsibilities, Harris excelled as a strong defender.
On Jan. 31, 2022, Harris led the Buckeyes defensively in a tough road game against guard Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Clark had a Clark-esque day, scoring 43 points and linked up regularly with forward Monica Czinano. Harris held now WNBA player Kate Martin to eight points on 33.3 percent shooting and led the Buckeyes with three steals and six rebounds. That win ultimately secured Ohio State a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
As Harris started hitting her stride as a starter, the Buckeyes season came to a close and the start of the 2022-23 season saw Harris back on the bench. It didn’t last long.
Ohio State brought in dynamic freshman forward Cotie McMahon who started from day one. McMahon joined sophomore Taylor Thierry who came on strong late in the previous campaign and the two joined Mikesell, Sheldon and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková in the starting lineup.
On Nov. 30, Harris sat on the bench when the Buckeyes traveled to Kentucky to face No. 8 Louisville. Harris never expected to get into the game because she couldn’t breathe out of her nose. A brutal cold laid the redshirt junior out, but Harris’ legs, arms and body still worked, so she still suited up.
The Buckeyes limped into halftime down eight points. McMahon, working through her freshman adjusted, got benched after six minutes. Ohio State needed a spark, and Harris provided it with 35 minutes off the bench, more minutes than three starters, where she grabbed 10 rebounds and provided six assists.
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Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
In the third quarter, Harris grabbed two offensive rebounds, including the one that ultimately became the game-winning shot by Mikesell. The Buckeyes went up 61-59 on the second chance basket and ran away to 96-77 victory.
“She’s the heart and soul of our team in many ways, just from a competitive character standpoint,” said McGuff that night. “She got tough rebound after tough rebound tonight, dove on the floor for loose balls. Just a great performance and we really really needed it.”
That game against Louisville was the last one Sheldon would play in until early February, and then not again until the postseason, going down with a foot injury. Less than a month later, Sheldon’s backup Greene suffered her second torn ACL. Without a point guard, Harris stepped into the position for the first time since high school.
Late in the season, after the Buckeyes took their blows against sides like Iowa and the Indiana Hoosiers in the regular season, Ohio State still had a chance to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. A win in Ann Arbor in the second to last game of the season gave the Buckeyes at least one night of rest in the conference tournament.
Harris wouldn’t let the chance slip by, leading the Buckeyes with her best scoring night of the season with a career high 23 points. Harris also led the team with an astounding seven steals. By the time she fouled out with five minutes remaining, Ohio State was up 12 points and rode the lead through the buzzer.
Sheldon returned in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the conference tournament, but Harris held onto her starting role. After beating the Wolverines again, the Buckeyes faced the Hoosiers in the semifinal and things didn’t go well. Ohio State went down 24 points late in the second quarter, and a win seemed out of the picture. Harris battled through adversity her whole life, so a basketball deficit wasn’t that big of a deal.
The Buckeyes stormed back to win 79-75 in a performance for Harris that needs to be remembered in program lore. With 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, Ohio State trimmed the insurmountable deficit to eight points. As the ball was flying out of bounds, Harris jumped to save it, throwing the ball behind her back and landing on top of a media member’s laptop. That save turned into a three points thanks to a Thierry layup and free throw. With 38 seconds remaining, the Indiana lead was down to one.
Enter Rikki Harris.
That shot was the game-winner, giving Ohio State a tournament record comeback. A historic fight by the Buckeyes that went through Harris who had a +20 plus/minus in 35 minutes on the court.
Maybe it’s poetic that Harris wouldn’t start another game for Ohio State, or maybe it’s an insult. The self-proclaimed “bench starter” for the Buckeyes, who had her hands in many of the moments that led to team glory, took a subdued role in her senior season, without public complaint or frustration.
For all the excitement that Harris brought to that tournament comeback, there was one moment that fans didn’t see that sums up who Harris is as a person. In Indiana’s game the day prior, forward Kiandra Browne suffered a serious hip injury, requiring a wheelchair to get off the court against the Michigan State Spartans.
Before Ohio State faced Indiana in the semifinal, Browne sat alone on the Hoosier bench. When the Buckeyes came out for warmups, everyone except Harris grabbed a basketball and began their pregame rituals. Harris went straight over to Browne to talk.
Harris’ legacy isn’t the same as Sheldon’s or anyone else’s. It’s uniquely her own as a player who doesn’t give up. That’s how Harris wants to be remembered.
“That I’m just a player that wants to succeed at team succeed, but I’m going to give them my all out no matter what,” said Harris. “Whatever the coach is asking me, I’m going to try my hardest to do that, if it’s on the offensive end or defensive end.”
In her final weeks of college basketball, Harris is still trying to improve her game, despite Harris’ playing career coming to an end when Dayton plays their final game of the season. Harris and coach Williams-Jeter both say the guard needs to take more shots on offense, and trust her shot. Likely a by-product of five seasons where that wasn’t Harris’ focus. It was play defense and support those making the baskets.
After five years in Columbus, Harris has a list of individual moments that she an hang her hat on as her favorite. Stories she can tell friends, family and future players she will coach that show the kind of work Harris put in game in and game out. Harris’ favorite moment isn’t any of those things.
“When we won the conference last year solo,” said Harris. “We won the conference a couple years back, but we shared it with another team. So definitely that moment and being able to win it against the team up north was the best moment ever.”
What made that moment wasn’t only beating a rival or hoisting a trophy, but doing it alongside three players that came into the program with Harris back in 2019. Sheldon, Greene and Mikulášiková, with Harris still spending time with Sheldon and Greene with both of them still in Columbus.
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Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
“Those are my sisters. I see Madison, it’s harder now, but before this [season] we were seeing each other almost every other weekend,” said Harris. “Me and Jacy talk all the time still. Whenever I can get down there, I come down there. Madison came to games here. But those are going to be my lifelong friends forever.”
It’s hard to imagine anything derailing Harris, for reasons most people outside of Harris’ personal life don’t know. The odds have been stacked against Harris since she was born.
“I was born almost two months early and ended up in the hospital a month and a half before I could go home,” Harris told the Dayton Daily News. “After that I was back and forth to the hospital. I had asthma and breathing difficulties. When I was a kid, I was hooked to a lot of machines and monitors because I’d stop breathing in my sleep. It put too much stress on my parents, so when I was three, I had my tonsils removed and that helped.”
Even so, Harris played AAU boys basketball after learning to play basketball at three years old and went on to become a five-star high school prospect.
On the court, on top of those torn ACLs and injured shoulder, Harris broke her nose during her time at Ohio State. In a scrimmage this offseason for Dayton, facing the West Virginia Mountaineers, Harris’ shoulder popped out of place. Harris popped it back into place and kept playing.
Outside of a premature birth, a laundry list of medical issues as a child and basketball injury after basketball injury, the odds swung even further away from a “normal” life for Harris in her personal life.
“Ricky comes from a tough background,” said Williams-Jeter. “Mom and dad has both been incarcerated, both her brothers have been incarcerated. And this is this kid who just grows, right, and has really done things. So for me, I don’t think anything that she puts her mind to will fail.”
With the addition of Harris, Dayton is close to their first winning season since now Illinois head coach Shauna Greene left the Flyers for the Big Ten. It’s no surprise either that Harris is a reason why.
Coach Williams-Jeter has to get Harris to shoot, and maybe talk a little less to the officiating crew when a call doesn’t go her way, or if a bad call goes against any of her teammates, but when the moment calls for something extra, Harris is there to battle. It’s Harris’ default setting.
When coaches need a big rebound on a free throw, they bring in their bigs to get the job done. When the opponent is threatening and has a hot shooter, the coach adjusts to get a late stop. Not with Harris. When the graduate senior is on the court, she knows what needs to happen and does it.
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Erik Schelkun
“She’s a Swiss Army knife,” said Williams-Jeter. “You can almost pull out any one of those tools any night and use her cuz we had a point where our point guard went down. And now she has to play point for a couple games. So I think she’s had to do that here. She’s played one through four for us in one season.”
Harris found another family at Dayton. Not replacing the old one, but one with its own cast of characters. A place where every player on the roster is treated equally in both support and expectations. No one plays favorites. If you play well, you make it onto the court.
After five years at Ohio State, it’s offered Harris a fresh perspective when it comes to her next road as a coach. A road that, while bumpy, won’t deter a player who has gone over their fair share of bumps since the moment Harris entered this planet.
Fortunately for the guard, Harris had Senior Night in Columbus, a fitting place to celebrate the legacy of someone who’s meant so much to the program, even if it didn’t have the same attention as others. Harris made the most of the moments she had, playing whatever role was needed.
In the end, Harris isn’t making it about herself. Typical Rikki Harris behavior.
“I know this is a bittersweet moment,” said Harris. “But, I am excited to become a coach as well. I’ll miss playing, but as long as I can affect the game in any way or aspect and help other people, I’m winning. I just want to give back what I can give back. My love, my knowledge, and just be there for others.”
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ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Erik Schelkun
Harris left Ohio State after five seasons, but her impact shaped the Buckeyes program
Take a second and think of what pops into your head when you read the word “legacy.” It might elicit images of your favorite athlete’s accomplishments. Maybe it's deeply personal, causing reflection on the kind of impression you hope to leave on people when it’s all said and done.
In college sports, legacy is tricky. Use the way of thinking that has become less realistic over the years since the introduction of the transfer portal and NIL, and legacy means staying with at a school for the love of the university. A philosophy conveniently forgotten when coaches switched from school to school for larger paychecks.
Now when a player transfers, to fans it often becomes a scarlet letter. Coincidentally seen similarly to the red “A” in the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne novel given for its adulterous main character. In college sports, it breaking the sanctity of a relationship between a player, a school and all who call the school their own.
On March 24, 2024, the Ohio State Buckeyes season ended; A premature end to a campaign where the Scarlet and Gray earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, led by All-American Jacy Sheldon and two-time transfer student and National Defensive Player of the Year candidate Celeste Taylor.
For both graduate seniors, that was the end of their college careers. All that remained in college were their legacies. Redshirt senior Rikki Harris had a choice to stay at Ohio State, enter the transfer portal or close the book on her NCAA playing career. After the tournament upset defeat, Harris had to answer the question — was she staying or was she going?
“That’s a coach McGuff question.”
Becoming a Flyer
On Feb. 12, Harris stepped onto the court of UD Arena in front of over 12,000 screaming school-aged children for a weekday lunchtime field trip day game. Along with it comes a deafening wall of sound that makes it hard to think, let alone try to play a game of basketball.
Within two minutes, the Buckeye turned Dayton Flyer drove to the basket, took contact and hit two free throws. Fast forward a minute and a half later and Harris added a steal and a block.
Rikki Harris in the opening minutes of the Feb. 12 game between Dayton and Davidson, in Dayton, Ohio
Dayton was not where Harris expected to be 10 months prior when she publicly announced her entrance into the transfer portal, 10 days after Harris’ final game in scarlet and gray. Between Ohio State’s final buzzer, the last nail in the coffin of the season against the Blue Devils, and transfer announcement season began on social media, Harris and Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff had their end of the season conversation.
“He made it clear that he wanted his freshmen and young people to get experience,” said Harris. “I wanted to play my last year in basketball because I don’t want to play after. I want to coach. So after I heard that, I just knew I couldn’t be there because I wanted to play ball for my last time ever.”
Harris wasn’t kicked off the team or replaced. After all, Harris already played a bench role for the Buckeyes in all four years where she was healthy and able to play. That continued for the 2023-24 season when Harris came off the bench as Ohio State’s sixth player.
Instead of continuing that role, playing behind what eventually became the backcourt of freshman Jaloni Cambridge or junior Chance Gray, Harris joined the portal in hopes of playing closer to her home and family in Indianapolis, Indiana.
After playing predominantly as a guard for the Buckeyes, Harris also wanted to play as a power forward. In the portal, Harris had two chances near Central Indiana, including a potential move within the Big Ten to the Purdue Boilermakers that didn’t come to fruition.
Despite building a reputation as a reliable team leader, Harris reached out to her mentor and former coach Tamika Williams-Jeter when offers weren’t coming.
“I wasn’t gonna call her cuz I knew she’d probably go power forward. So I knew when she called, I was assuming that she was calling to say, ‘hey, I’m down to these couple of schools’ cuz it was late,” said Williams-Jeter. “She was on FaceTime and she kind of looked at me and said, ‘so you weren’t gonna call me?’ And I was like, ‘no.’”
Williams-Jeter and Harris went back to the Flyers’ high school days at North Central, recruiting Harris when Williams-Jeter was an assistant coach at Penn State. When Williams-Jeter moved to coach under McGuff at Ohio State for the 2019 season, Harris followed, although the freshman missed the 2019-20 season recovering from a shoulder injury.
The strong relationship between Harris and Williams-Jeter let the coach be up front with Harris. Dayton didn’t need a power forward on their roster, so she didn’t even consider Harris as an option to join the Flyers program.
“I don’t think we were where she thought she was gonna end up,” said Williams-Jeter. “But I think the relationship weighed in and that’s how we really got her”
After Harris convinced coach Williams-Jeter that she wasn’t only trying to play the four, the graduate senior committed to Dayton near the end of the transfer window. Harris visited Dayton in the summer, when most players already left campus. The family-like atmosphere was clear when most came back simply to meet Harris on her visit. Including Dayton’s leading scorer Ivey Wolf.
“Ivey, she came in that morning when I got here to say hi to make sure she met me after her 21st birthday,” said Harris. “So for one of their top players to do all that, you know what happens on 21st. So she kind of had a little hangover. I ain’t going to say too much. But she made sure that I knew she cared. And that was huge.”
Harris found a new home an hour west of the Schottenstein Center, now playing slightly closer to home and for a coach who put so much into the life of the college athlete. Playing for coach Williams-Jeter was a perfect match not only because of their longstanding relationship but Harris wants her road to look like her coach’s journey.
Dayton head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter and Rikki Harris
Williams-Jeter starred for the UConn Huskies at the turn of the millennium. The Dayton high school grad won two national titles under head coach Geno Auriemma, on top of personal accolades like the 1999 Big East Freshman of the Year award and a six-year WNBA career. Harris isn’t looking at her coach’s trajectory of playing pro, no. Harris found her desire to coach since her redshirt freshman season where the guard sat on the bench, watching McGuff, Williams-Jeter and the staff work.
So, a move to Dayton made sense to not only continue Harris’ playing career, but to keep learning from a mentor who has already accomplished so much in coaching, moving her way up to leading a Division I program. It’s also a style of coaching Harris respects and wants to emulate.
“The culture is great. They hold us to a high standard,” said Harris. “We all get treated evenly. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best player, the worst player, senior or freshman, you’re going to get the same treatment no matter what.”
“That’s what I harp on is just everybody getting treated equally,” said Harris. “Equality, equality, just all that above. I just love to see everybody get treated the same.”
Harris is also fair with herself and her own playing expectations of potentially playing professionally. The guard knows it’s probably not likely with how difficult it is to land somewhere professionally and due to a list of injuries that have slowed down her collegiate career.
In eighth grade, Harris suffered the first of two ACL tears, the second coming after she committed to Ohio State. Then it was a torn labrum in her shoulder. While the former Buckeye is realistic when it comes to her future, look back at the success of Ohio State on the court over the past three seasons and Harris’ game left an imprint on the program’s biggest moments.
Ohio State Legacy
When Harris finally made it onto the court in her second year as a Buckeye, it was foreshadowing for the rest of her Scarlet and Gray career. Harris started on Dec. 6, 2020 against Northern Kentucky of the Horizon League. It was the only game Harris started and it was because of Oklahoma State transfer Braxtin Miller didn’t suit up.
It was an early season rout, a commonplace for power conference schools. When Big Ten play came around, Harris went the way of many freshman at Ohio State and played a more subdued role as Sheldon and guard Madison Greene, who came in with Harris, took most of the minutes as sophomores.
Harris broke through in her second year on the court when point guard Kateri Poole went down. The guard only missed a couple games, but McGuff used it as an opportunity to move Sheldon to point guard. With Greene out injured with an ACL tear and transfer shooting guard Taylor Mikesell playing lights out next to Sheldon, Harris started the rest of the season as the third guard.
The spot was perfect for Harris. With Sheldon and Mikesell taking on the scoring responsibilities, Harris excelled as a strong defender.
On Jan. 31, 2022, Harris led the Buckeyes defensively in a tough road game against guard Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Clark had a Clark-esque day, scoring 43 points and linked up regularly with forward Monica Czinano. Harris held now WNBA player Kate Martin to eight points on 33.3 percent shooting and led the Buckeyes with three steals and six rebounds. That win ultimately secured Ohio State a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
As Harris started hitting her stride as a starter, the Buckeyes season came to a close and the start of the 2022-23 season saw Harris back on the bench. It didn’t last long.
Ohio State brought in dynamic freshman forward Cotie McMahon who started from day one. McMahon joined sophomore Taylor Thierry who came on strong late in the previous campaign and the two joined Mikesell, Sheldon and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková in the starting lineup.
On Nov. 30, Harris sat on the bench when the Buckeyes traveled to Kentucky to face No. 8 Louisville. Harris never expected to get into the game because she couldn’t breathe out of her nose. A brutal cold laid the redshirt junior out, but Harris’ legs, arms and body still worked, so she still suited up.
The Buckeyes limped into halftime down eight points. McMahon, working through her freshman adjusted, got benched after six minutes. Ohio State needed a spark, and Harris provided it with 35 minutes off the bench, more minutes than three starters, where she grabbed 10 rebounds and provided six assists.
In the third quarter, Harris grabbed two offensive rebounds, including the one that ultimately became the game-winning shot by Mikesell. The Buckeyes went up 61-59 on the second chance basket and ran away to 96-77 victory.
“She’s the heart and soul of our team in many ways, just from a competitive character standpoint,” said McGuff that night. “She got tough rebound after tough rebound tonight, dove on the floor for loose balls. Just a great performance and we really really needed it.”
That game against Louisville was the last one Sheldon would play in until early February, and then not again until the postseason, going down with a foot injury. Less than a month later, Sheldon’s backup Greene suffered her second torn ACL. Without a point guard, Harris stepped into the position for the first time since high school.
Late in the season, after the Buckeyes took their blows against sides like Iowa and the Indiana Hoosiers in the regular season, Ohio State still had a chance to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. A win in Ann Arbor in the second to last game of the season gave the Buckeyes at least one night of rest in the conference tournament.
Harris wouldn’t let the chance slip by, leading the Buckeyes with her best scoring night of the season with a career high 23 points. Harris also led the team with an astounding seven steals. By the time she fouled out with five minutes remaining, Ohio State was up 12 points and rode the lead through the buzzer.
Sheldon returned in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the conference tournament, but Harris held onto her starting role. After beating the Wolverines again, the Buckeyes faced the Hoosiers in the semifinal and things didn’t go well. Ohio State went down 24 points late in the second quarter, and a win seemed out of the picture. Harris battled through adversity her whole life, so a basketball deficit wasn’t that big of a deal.
The Buckeyes stormed back to win 79-75 in a performance for Harris that needs to be remembered in program lore. With 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, Ohio State trimmed the insurmountable deficit to eight points. As the ball was flying out of bounds, Harris jumped to save it, throwing the ball behind her back and landing on top of a media member’s laptop. That save turned into a three points thanks to a Thierry layup and free throw. With 38 seconds remaining, the Indiana lead was down to one.
Enter Rikki Harris.
That shot was the game-winner, giving Ohio State a tournament record comeback. A historic fight by the Buckeyes that went through Harris who had a +20 plus/minus in 35 minutes on the court.
Maybe it’s poetic that Harris wouldn’t start another game for Ohio State, or maybe it’s an insult. The self-proclaimed “bench starter” for the Buckeyes, who had her hands in many of the moments that led to team glory, took a subdued role in her senior season, without public complaint or frustration.
For all the excitement that Harris brought to that tournament comeback, there was one moment that fans didn’t see that sums up who Harris is as a person. In Indiana’s game the day prior, forward Kiandra Browne suffered a serious hip injury, requiring a wheelchair to get off the court against the Michigan State Spartans.
Before Ohio State faced Indiana in the semifinal, Browne sat alone on the Hoosier bench. When the Buckeyes came out for warmups, everyone except Harris grabbed a basketball and began their pregame rituals. Harris went straight over to Browne to talk.
Harris’ legacy isn’t the same as Sheldon’s or anyone else’s. It’s uniquely her own as a player who doesn’t give up. That’s how Harris wants to be remembered.
“That I’m just a player that wants to succeed at team succeed, but I’m going to give them my all out no matter what,” said Harris. “Whatever the coach is asking me, I’m going to try my hardest to do that, if it’s on the offensive end or defensive end.”
In her final weeks of college basketball, Harris is still trying to improve her game, despite Harris’ playing career coming to an end when Dayton plays their final game of the season. Harris and coach Williams-Jeter both say the guard needs to take more shots on offense, and trust her shot. Likely a by-product of five seasons where that wasn’t Harris’ focus. It was play defense and support those making the baskets.
After five years in Columbus, Harris has a list of individual moments that she an hang her hat on as her favorite. Stories she can tell friends, family and future players she will coach that show the kind of work Harris put in game in and game out. Harris’ favorite moment isn’t any of those things.
“When we won the conference last year solo,” said Harris. “We won the conference a couple years back, but we shared it with another team. So definitely that moment and being able to win it against the team up north was the best moment ever.”
What made that moment wasn’t only beating a rival or hoisting a trophy, but doing it alongside three players that came into the program with Harris back in 2019. Sheldon, Greene and Mikulášiková, with Harris still spending time with Sheldon and Greene with both of them still in Columbus.
“Those are my sisters. I see Madison, it’s harder now, but before this [season] we were seeing each other almost every other weekend,” said Harris. “Me and Jacy talk all the time still. Whenever I can get down there, I come down there. Madison came to games here. But those are going to be my lifelong friends forever.”
It’s hard to imagine anything derailing Harris, for reasons most people outside of Harris’ personal life don’t know. The odds have been stacked against Harris since she was born.
“I was born almost two months early and ended up in the hospital a month and a half before I could go home,” Harris told the Dayton Daily News. “After that I was back and forth to the hospital. I had asthma and breathing difficulties. When I was a kid, I was hooked to a lot of machines and monitors because I’d stop breathing in my sleep. It put too much stress on my parents, so when I was three, I had my tonsils removed and that helped.”
Even so, Harris played AAU boys basketball after learning to play basketball at three years old and went on to become a five-star high school prospect.
On the court, on top of those torn ACLs and injured shoulder, Harris broke her nose during her time at Ohio State. In a scrimmage this offseason for Dayton, facing the West Virginia Mountaineers, Harris’ shoulder popped out of place. Harris popped it back into place and kept playing.
Outside of a premature birth, a laundry list of medical issues as a child and basketball injury after basketball injury, the odds swung even further away from a “normal” life for Harris in her personal life.
“Ricky comes from a tough background,” said Williams-Jeter. “Mom and dad has both been incarcerated, both her brothers have been incarcerated. And this is this kid who just grows, right, and has really done things. So for me, I don’t think anything that she puts her mind to will fail.”
With the addition of Harris, Dayton is close to their first winning season since now Illinois head coach Shauna Greene left the Flyers for the Big Ten. It’s no surprise either that Harris is a reason why.
Coach Williams-Jeter has to get Harris to shoot, and maybe talk a little less to the officiating crew when a call doesn’t go her way, or if a bad call goes against any of her teammates, but when the moment calls for something extra, Harris is there to battle. It’s Harris’ default setting.
When coaches need a big rebound on a free throw, they bring in their bigs to get the job done. When the opponent is threatening and has a hot shooter, the coach adjusts to get a late stop. Not with Harris. When the graduate senior is on the court, she knows what needs to happen and does it.
“She’s a Swiss Army knife,” said Williams-Jeter. “You can almost pull out any one of those tools any night and use her cuz we had a point where our point guard went down. And now she has to play point for a couple games. So I think she’s had to do that here. She’s played one through four for us in one season.”
Harris found another family at Dayton. Not replacing the old one, but one with its own cast of characters. A place where every player on the roster is treated equally in both support and expectations. No one plays favorites. If you play well, you make it onto the court.
After five years at Ohio State, it’s offered Harris a fresh perspective when it comes to her next road as a coach. A road that, while bumpy, won’t deter a player who has gone over their fair share of bumps since the moment Harris entered this planet.
Fortunately for the guard, Harris had Senior Night in Columbus, a fitting place to celebrate the legacy of someone who’s meant so much to the program, even if it didn’t have the same attention as others. Harris made the most of the moments she had, playing whatever role was needed.
In the end, Harris isn’t making it about herself. Typical Rikki Harris behavior.
“I know this is a bittersweet moment,” said Harris. “But, I am excited to become a coach as well. I’ll miss playing, but as long as I can affect the game in any way or aspect and help other people, I’m winning. I just want to give back what I can give back. My love, my knowledge, and just be there for others.”
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LGHL What do you think will happen with the men’s and women’s basketball teams?
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What do you think will happen with the men’s and women’s basketball teams?
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Throughout the Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, the players, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
It has been a wild few weeks for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. As the flu ran through the men’s locker room, the team has seen its NCAA Tournament chances continue to fade (although not completely). The women were plagued by a string of games that saw them lose late-game, double-digit leads; and while they held on to win some of those contests, their status amongst the top teams in the sport has been called into question.
So, we wanted to check the temperature of Buckeye fans when it comes to how they are feeling about both of the hoops squads as we enter the final weeks of the regular season. In this week’s fan survey we gauge your feelings on the men’s team’s March Madness chances and whether or not the women will be on the top two lines come the NCAA Tournament.
Check out the questions below and make sure to complete the survey at the bottom of the page. Check back over the weekend for survey results.
Currently, most bracketologists have Jake Diebler’s team as one of the last teams still in the NCAA Tournament field. However, with games against USC (14-13), Nebraska (18-9), and Indiana (16-11) left on the regular season schedule, if they don’t win at least two of those, it would likely require a Herculean effort in the Big Ten Tournament to get them into the Big Dance.
The Buckeyes are in Southern California to take on the USC Trojans tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET. OSU is a road underdog for the ninth time this season, having gone 2-6 in the first eight games; the wins came at Purdue and Penn State.
While Ohio State is 4-3 all-time against the Men of Troy, they are 4-5 playing in the Pacific Time Zone over the last decade, with their most recent win coming in a neutral site win in Las Vegas over Texas earlier this season.
If the Bucks want to give themselves the best chance to make the tournament, they need to finish strong during the regular season, and a win tonight would go a long way.
Kevin McGuff’s team is currently ranked No. 12 in the country sporting an impressive 23-4 record. However, after suffering back-to-back West Coast losses to two of the best teams in the country — and new Big Ten additions — it would make sense to wonder about whether or not they are actually amongst the nation’s elite.
Earlier this month, the OSU women fell 65-52 at Pauley Pavilion to No. 2 UCLA and then three nights late 84-63 against No. 4 USC. Since then, the Buckeyes have responded with three wins in four games, but the first two wins (against Minnesota and Iowa) saw Ohio State give up substantial leads late in games.
The Bucks will wrap up the regular season with two ranked-vs.-ranked matchups, hosting No. 23 Michigan State tonight at 7 p.m. ET and traveling to College Park for the regular season finale on Sunday against No. 19 Maryland.
While how the team does in the B1G Tournament will play a huge part in determining their NCAA Tournament seeding, ending the regular season with a pair of ranked wins would almost certainly set them up to be either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Big Dance.
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
You ask, we answer. Sometimes we ask, others answer. And then other times, we ask, we answer.
Throughout the Ohio State football season, we will be asking and answering questions about the team, the players, and anything else on our collective minds of varying degrees of importance. If you have a question that you would like to ask, you can tweet us @LandGrant33 or if you need more than 280 characters, send an email HERE.
It has been a wild few weeks for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. As the flu ran through the men’s locker room, the team has seen its NCAA Tournament chances continue to fade (although not completely). The women were plagued by a string of games that saw them lose late-game, double-digit leads; and while they held on to win some of those contests, their status amongst the top teams in the sport has been called into question.
So, we wanted to check the temperature of Buckeye fans when it comes to how they are feeling about both of the hoops squads as we enter the final weeks of the regular season. In this week’s fan survey we gauge your feelings on the men’s team’s March Madness chances and whether or not the women will be on the top two lines come the NCAA Tournament.
Check out the questions below and make sure to complete the survey at the bottom of the page. Check back over the weekend for survey results.
Question 1: Will the Ohio State men’s basketball team make the NCAA Tournament?
Currently, most bracketologists have Jake Diebler’s team as one of the last teams still in the NCAA Tournament field. However, with games against USC (14-13), Nebraska (18-9), and Indiana (16-11) left on the regular season schedule, if they don’t win at least two of those, it would likely require a Herculean effort in the Big Ten Tournament to get them into the Big Dance.
The Buckeyes are in Southern California to take on the USC Trojans tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET. OSU is a road underdog for the ninth time this season, having gone 2-6 in the first eight games; the wins came at Purdue and Penn State.
While Ohio State is 4-3 all-time against the Men of Troy, they are 4-5 playing in the Pacific Time Zone over the last decade, with their most recent win coming in a neutral site win in Las Vegas over Texas earlier this season.
If the Bucks want to give themselves the best chance to make the tournament, they need to finish strong during the regular season, and a win tonight would go a long way.
Question 2: Will the Ohio State women’s basketball team be either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament?
Kevin McGuff’s team is currently ranked No. 12 in the country sporting an impressive 23-4 record. However, after suffering back-to-back West Coast losses to two of the best teams in the country — and new Big Ten additions — it would make sense to wonder about whether or not they are actually amongst the nation’s elite.
Earlier this month, the OSU women fell 65-52 at Pauley Pavilion to No. 2 UCLA and then three nights late 84-63 against No. 4 USC. Since then, the Buckeyes have responded with three wins in four games, but the first two wins (against Minnesota and Iowa) saw Ohio State give up substantial leads late in games.
The Bucks will wrap up the regular season with two ranked-vs.-ranked matchups, hosting No. 23 Michigan State tonight at 7 p.m. ET and traveling to College Park for the regular season finale on Sunday against No. 19 Maryland.
While how the team does in the B1G Tournament will play a huge part in determining their NCAA Tournament seeding, ending the regular season with a pair of ranked wins would almost certainly set them up to be either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Big Dance.
Share your thoughts here:
Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Ohio State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
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