On Wednesday, Nov. 26, No. 23 Ohio State women’s basketball defeated the then No. 21 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers.
Due to late trips to the foul line for both teams and referee reviews, the game went
30 minutes longer than expected. That forced a Home Alone-esque Buckeye rush out of the Baha Mar resort to make it through customs in time to get home for the Thanksgiving holiday.
No Kevin was left behind and head coach Kevin McGuff’s side got home in enough time, and had their holiday dessert on Sunday in a 130-32 thrashing of the Niagara Purple Eagles.
Now, after a week off to recover from travel and competitive basketball games, Ohio State picks its schedule back up against a different purple side — The Northwestern Wildcats.
Its the first Big Ten game of the season and while Northwestern has not been a difficult test for the Buckeyes in recent history, Sunday’s matchup is anything but a warm-up game for Ohio State.
The Scarlet and Gray have aggressive interior play to contend with in what is potentially final matchup between coaches whose relationship stretches back to before McGuff ever led a program.
Grace Sullivan & Tayla Thomas
Ohio State is on a five-game winning steak against the Wildcats. What was once a strong program in Evanston, Illinois, anchored on defense and the 2019-20 Big Ten regular season champion has been on the decline, but this year prospects are looking up.
After a 1-4 start to the 24-25 season and 2-14 conference record to land in 17th place, Northwestern started this season on a five-game winning streak. While the opponents were outside of the power conferences, and the Wildcats enter Sunday on a two-game losing streak to the Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks, Northwestern won games it was not winning a year ago, and a surge of two depth players from last year are leading the way.
Senior forward Grace Sullivan was a first-year Big Ten transfer out of Bucknell last season for head coach Joe McKeown. Sullivan’s production was sporadic and forward Caileigh Walsh overshadowed Sullivan. With Walsh’s eligibility over after the Wildcat’s last campaign, Sullivan stepped up in a big way.
Any hesitancy from last season evaporated and the 6’4” Sullivan is now a force. The forward’s 22.8 points per game is third in the Big Ten. Also, after Sullivan never averaged five rebounds a game in a season for three years, and only had seven games in her first Big Ten season where the forward grabbed more than five in a game, Sullivan nearly grabs 10 a game for the Wildcats.
Forward Taylor Thomas’ story is different, but with a similar twist. The 6’3” forward entered Northwestern’s program as a freshman in 2024. Thomas appeared in 20 games for McKeown and averaged 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.
Now Thomas leads the Big Ten with 11.1 rebounds per game and that is not only because of an extra 20 minutes per game. Thomas’ productivity per 40 minutes of play is up eight rebounds and seven points per game. Combined with Sullivan, the duo is trouble and will be for the interior play of Ohio State.
Over the last four games, after center Elsa Lemmilä went to the bench to continue offseason surgery recovery, forward Kylee Kitts moved into the lone paint position on the team. The Ohio State forward is improving each game of her first NCAA season, but could be overrun without the proper reinforcements.
The sophomore Lemmilä had seven rebounds and three blocks in 20 minutes against West Virginia, and played her most confident basketball of the season. With an extra week of rest, and the Sullivan and Thomas matchup, it could mean Lemmilä slides back into the starting position.
However, forward depth on Northwestern is limited. Its a steep drop from the current outstanding Wildcats pairing. If McGuff opts to continue his four-guard starting rotation, Lemmilä could enter the game and thrive against forwards who relieve Sullivan and Thomas. Also, if either of the duo gets into foul trouble, there is not a like-for-like replacement on McKeown’s bench to overcome the absence.
Kevin McGuff & Joe McKeown
Before the start of this season, McKeown announced that this campaign would be his last. McKeown took the Wildcats from a team at the bottom of the conference back into the AP Top-25 for the first time in 19 seasons and earned Northwestern its second conference title.
There’s camaraderie between most coaches but watch McKeown and McGuff and the relationship goes deeper than the occasional opponent.
“He’s [McKeown] started out, probably really as a mentor as much as anything,” McGuff told reporters. “I was a younger coach when he was a little more established, and then it developed into a great friendship over the years.”
On the court, the two coaches competed in the A-10 conference before the Big Ten. When McGuff coached Xavier, McKeown led George Washington to seven-straight conference regular season titles before leaving for Northwestern. In 28 all-time meetings, McGuff has a 17-11 edge (officially 15-11 due to vacated Ohio State victories in 2017 and 2018).
McGuff first met his mentor on the court in a 70-57 defeat for Xavier. Less than a month later, McGuff’s side needed four overtimes to overcome George Washington. The two coaches competed closely until McKeown left and McGuff later went to Washington. At Ohio State, McGuff pulled away.
It’s been a tightly contested series between the two friends in their years of coaching, and the added emotion of McKeown’s upcoming retirement might play its part on Sunday. An added piece of motivation for the Wildcats.
“Since when he [McKeown] got there to when he left, he really elevated the the profile of that program, and I think he’ll leave it in good hands for the next person to come in and pick that up,” said McGuff.
The only way this game is not the final between the two is if the Northwestern Wildcats and Ohio State Buckeyes meet in the Big Ten Tournament. Last season’s 17th place finish for the Wildcats meant they did not qualify for the annual conference tournament.
Caroline Lau
There is one piece of Sunday’s 2:00 p.m. ET game that is easy to predict, and that is outstanding distribution from point guard Caroline Lau.
Lau is an old school point guard. The senior never averaged more than eight points in any of her four seasons with the Wildcats, but the game she brings to the court is unmatched. Lau can find anyone on the court. Since Lau joined the starting lineup three seasons ago, the guard averages 6.7 assists per game. Last season, Lau led the Big Ten with six assists per game and with Sullivan and Thomas’ play its jumped to 8.9, which leads the NCAA.
When these two sides met last season, the Buckeyes pulled away for a 92-62 win. Even so, that was with Lau dishing out seven assists.
The famous Benjamin Franklin saying goes “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” It would be “death, taxes and Caroline Lau assists” if Franklin had the privilege of watching basketball.
