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Game Preview: No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball vs. No. 21 Illinois
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Joseph Scheller/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Buckeyes begin Big Ten play against their first ranked opponent of the season.
After over a week away from the court, No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball (7-0) returns Sunday when the No. 21 Illinois Fighting Illini (7-1) head to Columbus. It marks the first Big Ten game of the season and the first time playing a ranked opponent in the 2024-25 campaign.
With the added pressure both bring to the matchup, combined with a new look Buckeyes team on the court, it’s hard to know what to expect when the two sides meet.
Last regular season was disappointing for the Fighting Illini. Following a 22-23 season where Illinois made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years, Illinois struggled to find the same flow, despite returning four starters from the previous season.
The Illini eventually hit their stride, and made it into the inaugural WBIT, winning five games to hoist the first trophy in the tournament’s history.
Illinois picked up where they left off to start the season. Despite entering the season unranked, the Illini defeated No. 19 Florida State at home to start the campaign. Outside of one poor shooting day against the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats, Illinois earned their place back into the top-25 and come to Columbus with a 7-1 record.
Head coach Shauna Greene returns her five starters from last season, with forwards Kendall Bostic and Brynn Shoup-Hill, but began rotating in new guards. Makira Cook, who came with Greene to Illinois from Dayton before the 22-23 season, still runs the offense but shooting guard Genesis Bryant’s seen her role diminish slightly with the transfer of Jasmine Brown-Hagger from Mississippi State this past spring.
The sophomore Brown-Hagger hasn’t started, but the last three games saw the Illinois native’s role grow, averaging 16.3 points in 27 minutes per game.
Contributions from Brown-Hagger and sophomore Gretchen Dolan gives Illinois depth the Illini desperately missed last season. Instead of seeing their scoring drop off when their starting five got rest, there are now six Illini scoring at least double-digit points so far to start the season.
It means all the work done by head coach Kevin McGuff’s 10-player rotation this season will come in handy, if they’re all used correctly.
Ohio State’s played a light schedule to start the year, and in previous seasons McGuff sticks with a rotation of roughly seven players. Will that number grow this year? Sunday is the first chance to see what McGuff is thinking as far as bench depth and his go-to rotation.
That will also depend on the availability of forward Cotie McMahon, who’s missed the last four games with a right leg injury. McMahon practiced this week, but her day-to-day status hasn’t changed.
Should she not return Sunday, it seems possible that McMahon’s absence could carry on a bit longer. Ohio State’s next three games after Illinois are all of the mid-major variety, and with plenty of season left, the Buckeye coaching staff will probably be cautious with their star player’s health.
Even so, the defensive ability of the starting guard group of Jaloni Cambridge, Chance Gray and Kennedy Cambridge is formidable. Plus bringing in Madison Greene and Ava Watson, who’ve each excelled off the ball so far this year, should give the Buckeyes a fair fight around the perimeter.
The main focus will be inside the paint. Forward Kendall Bostic has never beaten Ohio State in four previous games, but it’s not due to lack of production on her part. Bostic averages 15.8 points and 16.5 rebounds per game against the Scarlet and Gray, but that’s against McGuff teams that didn’t have consistent paint presence like they do this season with graduate senior Ajae Petty and freshman Elsa Lemmilä.
Petty comes into Sunday playing her best basketball so far as a Buckeye. The forward from Baltimore had her first double-double against Old Dominion on Thanksgiving with 24 points and 11 rebounds. The next day, Petty nearly had another with 17 points and nine rebounds against Utah State.
What also increased were Petty’s minutes. McGuff’s shown in past years that if the play isn’t meeting his standards, the player will go to the bench. Petty played 49 total minutes in the Daytona Beach Classic, with her playing time in each game surpassing her minutes in any prior game this season.
When McGuff takes Petty out, it’s Lemmilä who’s stepped in and thrived, mostly on the defensive side of the court. The 6-foot-6 center averages 2.3 blocks per game and despite playing 17.9 minutes per game off the bench sits fourth in the conference in blocks per game, and seventh in total blocks (16). Celeste Taylor’s 29 blocks last season is the most for any Ohio State player since the 21-22 season, and Lemmilä has 22 games left this campaign.
Both Ohio State bigs average over seven rebounds a game. Ohio State has not had one player average at least seven rebounds per game over the past three seasons.
So, things are a little better near the basket for Ohio State this year, but Bostic is their biggest literal and figurative test this season to date.
The Buckeyes are currently riding a 12-game winning streak over the Illini, but this isn’t the same Illinois team from the early aughts and 2010s. In 2023, Ohio State needed a 17-point comeback in the second half to defeat the Illini. This is also the last chance many Illini starters have to defeat the Buckeyes, unless they meet in the postseason — and the way it's gone lately, there isn’t any lack of motivation for Illinois Sunday.
G- Jaloni Cambridge
G- Chance Gray
G- Kennedy Cambridge
F- Taylor Thierry
F- Ajae Petty
Illinois
G- Makira Cook
G- Genesis Bryant
G- Adalia McKenzie
F- Brynn Shoup-Hill
F- Kendall Bostic
Sunday is going to be close, and Ohio State will have moments where they’re punched in the mouth a bit. Sunday’s game could reach a level of intensity that is unfamiliar to Ohio State thus far, based on the competition they’ve seen over the first five weeks. Upperclassmen leaders like Thierry and Gray will help provide calm if and when this game gets tight.
Guard Jaloni Cambridge should rise to the moment, but may struggle a little bit early against a talented group of veteran Illini guards. She will also need to hold back the excitement of the first game of consequence for the Buckeyes and in her collegiate career.
The battle in the paint will be one to watch, with both Bostic and Petty facing each other for the first time. It will go down to the wire, with the home court advantage helping the Scarlet and Gray win their first conference game of the season.
Date: Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Where: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Television: Big Ten Network
Stream: FOX Sports Go
During the 22-23 season, Ohio State began a partnership with LandOn A Cure, an organization raising money and awareness for research into rare genetic disorders. The non-profit’s namesake Landon will be in attendance as the program continues its work bringing attention to a disease that is so rare that it doesn’t have a name.
Included in Sunday’s off-court focus is Ability Matters, a non-profit started by Director of Player Development Jacy Sheldon’s aunt and uncle. Ability Matters Ohio works to provide support for people with autism and other neurological disabilities.
Both Landon and Sheldon’s younger sister Emmy Sheldon, who has Down Syndrome, have both become staples of the program and beloved by not only the players but fans.
Continue reading...
ThomasCostello via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Scheller/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Buckeyes begin Big Ten play against their first ranked opponent of the season.
After over a week away from the court, No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball (7-0) returns Sunday when the No. 21 Illinois Fighting Illini (7-1) head to Columbus. It marks the first Big Ten game of the season and the first time playing a ranked opponent in the 2024-25 campaign.
With the added pressure both bring to the matchup, combined with a new look Buckeyes team on the court, it’s hard to know what to expect when the two sides meet.
Preview
Last regular season was disappointing for the Fighting Illini. Following a 22-23 season where Illinois made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 20 years, Illinois struggled to find the same flow, despite returning four starters from the previous season.
The Illini eventually hit their stride, and made it into the inaugural WBIT, winning five games to hoist the first trophy in the tournament’s history.
Illinois picked up where they left off to start the season. Despite entering the season unranked, the Illini defeated No. 19 Florida State at home to start the campaign. Outside of one poor shooting day against the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats, Illinois earned their place back into the top-25 and come to Columbus with a 7-1 record.
Head coach Shauna Greene returns her five starters from last season, with forwards Kendall Bostic and Brynn Shoup-Hill, but began rotating in new guards. Makira Cook, who came with Greene to Illinois from Dayton before the 22-23 season, still runs the offense but shooting guard Genesis Bryant’s seen her role diminish slightly with the transfer of Jasmine Brown-Hagger from Mississippi State this past spring.
The sophomore Brown-Hagger hasn’t started, but the last three games saw the Illinois native’s role grow, averaging 16.3 points in 27 minutes per game.
Contributions from Brown-Hagger and sophomore Gretchen Dolan gives Illinois depth the Illini desperately missed last season. Instead of seeing their scoring drop off when their starting five got rest, there are now six Illini scoring at least double-digit points so far to start the season.
It means all the work done by head coach Kevin McGuff’s 10-player rotation this season will come in handy, if they’re all used correctly.
Ohio State’s played a light schedule to start the year, and in previous seasons McGuff sticks with a rotation of roughly seven players. Will that number grow this year? Sunday is the first chance to see what McGuff is thinking as far as bench depth and his go-to rotation.
That will also depend on the availability of forward Cotie McMahon, who’s missed the last four games with a right leg injury. McMahon practiced this week, but her day-to-day status hasn’t changed.
Should she not return Sunday, it seems possible that McMahon’s absence could carry on a bit longer. Ohio State’s next three games after Illinois are all of the mid-major variety, and with plenty of season left, the Buckeye coaching staff will probably be cautious with their star player’s health.
Even so, the defensive ability of the starting guard group of Jaloni Cambridge, Chance Gray and Kennedy Cambridge is formidable. Plus bringing in Madison Greene and Ava Watson, who’ve each excelled off the ball so far this year, should give the Buckeyes a fair fight around the perimeter.
The main focus will be inside the paint. Forward Kendall Bostic has never beaten Ohio State in four previous games, but it’s not due to lack of production on her part. Bostic averages 15.8 points and 16.5 rebounds per game against the Scarlet and Gray, but that’s against McGuff teams that didn’t have consistent paint presence like they do this season with graduate senior Ajae Petty and freshman Elsa Lemmilä.
Petty comes into Sunday playing her best basketball so far as a Buckeye. The forward from Baltimore had her first double-double against Old Dominion on Thanksgiving with 24 points and 11 rebounds. The next day, Petty nearly had another with 17 points and nine rebounds against Utah State.
What also increased were Petty’s minutes. McGuff’s shown in past years that if the play isn’t meeting his standards, the player will go to the bench. Petty played 49 total minutes in the Daytona Beach Classic, with her playing time in each game surpassing her minutes in any prior game this season.
When McGuff takes Petty out, it’s Lemmilä who’s stepped in and thrived, mostly on the defensive side of the court. The 6-foot-6 center averages 2.3 blocks per game and despite playing 17.9 minutes per game off the bench sits fourth in the conference in blocks per game, and seventh in total blocks (16). Celeste Taylor’s 29 blocks last season is the most for any Ohio State player since the 21-22 season, and Lemmilä has 22 games left this campaign.
Both Ohio State bigs average over seven rebounds a game. Ohio State has not had one player average at least seven rebounds per game over the past three seasons.
So, things are a little better near the basket for Ohio State this year, but Bostic is their biggest literal and figurative test this season to date.
The Buckeyes are currently riding a 12-game winning streak over the Illini, but this isn’t the same Illinois team from the early aughts and 2010s. In 2023, Ohio State needed a 17-point comeback in the second half to defeat the Illini. This is also the last chance many Illini starters have to defeat the Buckeyes, unless they meet in the postseason — and the way it's gone lately, there isn’t any lack of motivation for Illinois Sunday.
Projected Lineups
Ohio State
G- Jaloni Cambridge
G- Chance Gray
G- Kennedy Cambridge
F- Taylor Thierry
F- Ajae Petty
Lineup Notes
- Before Sunday’s game, Ohio State will honor Taylor Thierry for scoring her 1,000th point, on Thanksgiving Day against the Old Dominion Monarchs
- Jaloni Cambridge leads the conference with 3.0 steals per game
- Chance Gray is 97 points away from hitting 1,000 in her career
Illinois
G- Makira Cook
G- Genesis Bryant
G- Adalia McKenzie
F- Brynn Shoup-Hill
F- Kendall Bostic
Lineup Notes
- Kendall Bostic enters Sunday with the fourth highest rebounds per game in the Big Ten (10.1)
- Genesis Bryant’s scoring is down, but so are her minutes, averaging 26 minutes per game, her lowest in three seasons at Illinois
- Six Illini average at least double-digit points per game
Prediction
Sunday is going to be close, and Ohio State will have moments where they’re punched in the mouth a bit. Sunday’s game could reach a level of intensity that is unfamiliar to Ohio State thus far, based on the competition they’ve seen over the first five weeks. Upperclassmen leaders like Thierry and Gray will help provide calm if and when this game gets tight.
Guard Jaloni Cambridge should rise to the moment, but may struggle a little bit early against a talented group of veteran Illini guards. She will also need to hold back the excitement of the first game of consequence for the Buckeyes and in her collegiate career.
The battle in the paint will be one to watch, with both Bostic and Petty facing each other for the first time. It will go down to the wire, with the home court advantage helping the Scarlet and Gray win their first conference game of the season.
How to Watch
Date: Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024
Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Where: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Television: Big Ten Network
Stream: FOX Sports Go
LGHL Score Prediction: 80-75, Ohio State Buckeyes
LandOn A Cure
During the 22-23 season, Ohio State began a partnership with LandOn A Cure, an organization raising money and awareness for research into rare genetic disorders. The non-profit’s namesake Landon will be in attendance as the program continues its work bringing attention to a disease that is so rare that it doesn’t have a name.
Included in Sunday’s off-court focus is Ability Matters, a non-profit started by Director of Player Development Jacy Sheldon’s aunt and uncle. Ability Matters Ohio works to provide support for people with autism and other neurological disabilities.
Both Landon and Sheldon’s younger sister Emmy Sheldon, who has Down Syndrome, have both become staples of the program and beloved by not only the players but fans.
Continue reading...