The Big Ten returns to Columbus for a Sunday matinee between No. 19 Ohio State women’s basketball and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
A week ago, the Buckeyes went down late against the No. 4 UCLA Bruins before falling to the West Coast side. Now, Ohio State has the chance to start a new regular season home winning streak after the Bruins ended the previous one at 32 games.
Rutgers enters after giving up a 21-point lead to the Wisconsin Badgers in their third conference matchup and the Scarlet Knights
face an Ohio State team that is shooting better and not losing intensity it had to challenge UCLA.
Hold the Intensity
Before the Dec. 28 game against UCLA, it was hard to know to where the Buckeyes were headed this season. The big loss to No. 1 UConn in November prompted questions about the ceiling for the 2025-26 Scarlet and Gray side but the near loss to the Bruins showed Ohio State has potential to surprise opponents.
With that said, it is easy to imagine that a team will let off the gas pedal a little bit when the opponent is on the opposite end of the Big Ten standings, like Wednesday against the Purdue Boilermakers. However, Ohio State looked like the fourth quarter side that took on a top-5 team in the country three days prior.
Ohio State went on a nine-point run after Purdue tied the game at two points each. Defensively, the Buckeyes forced nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes and head coach Kevin McGuff’s side took a 13-point lead into the second quarter. With each quarter that followed, the lead grew and Ohio State did not slow down.
“Yeah, coming off of that game, obviously we wanted the win, but we showed a lot of fights show a lot of grit,” guard Jaloni Cambridge told Land-Grant Holy Land. “So, just trying to carry that into not only this game today that we showed, but in the games moving forward.”
Cambridge was a vital piece of that intensity. The point guard had a quieter game scoring with 14 points, but the sophomore stood out on both sides of the court with seven rebounds, seven assists, five steals and even added a career high three blocks.
The point guard said after the game that she likes blocks more than steals, even though Cambridge wished she could get more in the run of play than the transition blocks against Purdue. On one three attempt near the corner for the Boilermakers ended with Cambridge flying from near out of bounds to send the shot away.
It is that kind of play that led to a Buckeyes victory and bodes well for the upcoming stretch of Big Ten matchups against teams like the Illinois Fighting Illini and No. 7 Maryland Terrapins.
Rutgers Blown Lead
Before Ohio State can play those two sides who are likely to end the season in the top half of the conference, it has the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Last season, the Scarlet Knights were 3-15 in Big Ten play and were the last team to make the 15-team conference tournament field. This season, Rutgers have a nearly brand new roster featuring eight new players on the 13-team roster. Of the eight, six came from the transfer portal and two are freshman.
Leading the Scarlet Knights is point guard Kaylah Ivey. After four seasons with the Boston College Eagles, Ivey transferred to play for head coach Coquese Washington and runs the Scarlet Knights’ offense with 3.8 assists per game. In the last two games, both in-conference, Ivey has 11 assists, showing increased understanding and team chemistry.
Thursday, Ivey and the Scarlet Knights looked like they had a convincing win over the Wisconsin Badgers with a 21-point lead with 1:20 remaining in the first quarter. Unfortunately for Rutgers, there were over 30 minutes left in the game and the Badgers chipped away at the deficit. To end the game, Wisconsin scored 21 of the last 25 points. Rutgers had two free throws and no other points in the last 6:49 of the game to lose 70-63.
Rutgers missed their final 11 shots, which Washington said was the reason her side fell. Washington said the shots were the same ones they were making in the first, but they did not convert down the stretch.
After a game like that, the Scarlet Knights cannot be happy, which means a side with more motivation on top of playing a top-20 team in the country.
The Scarlet Knights are a big side with six players standing at least 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-1 forward Nene Ndiaye leads all Rutgers scorers with 15.9 points per game. Ndiaye came to Rutgers from Boston College after Ivey and is part of a strong interior game for the Scarlet Knights, a group that will challenge Ohio State forward Kylee Kitts and center Elsa Lemmilä.
The pair of Buckeye bigs have their work cut out for them on the boards with the Scarlet Knights in third place in the Big Ten on offensive boards.
Three-Point Shooting
Ohio State is still sitting in 18th place in the Big Ten in deep shooting but in Wednesday’s win over Purdue, there were signs of improvement. The Buckeyes improved on their 27.7% efficiency on the season entering the Boilermaker New Year’s Eve matchup with a 36% shooting day from deep.
Guard Ava Watson led the way with three shots made from three-point range, the most on the team, and was one of five Buckeyes with a three in the win.
“Even in warm ups, I didn’t think I was going to shoot well, because I warmed up horribly, but I went out there and I just, I didn’t hesitate,” Watson told reporters. “That’s been my problem. I just shot it. My teammates have confidence in me, so that’s what I just went out there with.”
Consistently, players in post game media have similar feelings. There is no one on the team worried about the deep shooting on the roster, and Watson is an example of what happens when a player keeps shooting. Despite a tough warmup, Watson did not think twice when opportunities came the bench guard’s way.
On Sunday, Rutgers gives the Buckeyes another chance to increase three-point confidence. The Scarlet Knights are in 14th place in the Big Ten in scoring defense from deep, allowing opponents 30.7% deep shooting. With a speed advantage over the bigger Scarlet Knights roster, Ohio State will find open spots to shoot.
