The rollout of the Ohio State women’s basketball schedule comes in waves. More accurately, it is like a dripping faucet. On Monday, the Big Ten announced the first stage of the conference schedule release when it shared the home and away opponents for all 18 programs.
On the surface, it is the continuation of what Big Ten fans watched over the last two seasons, when the conference added Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC to the coast-to-coast league. Each team in the Big Ten plays all other 17 programs
at least once during the season, with one team coming in twice for a home-and-home series.
Beneath the announcement is a sign that the teams like this format for the future. When the 18-team conference debuted prior to the 24-25 season, the scheduling format received a two-year window to see what lessons the universities could learn. Now in the third season, there are no changes to that format that helps solidify NCAA Tournament resumes. Since every school plays every other school at least once, every program has at least a handful of games on their schedule against top ranked opponents.
With this strategy, the Big Ten sent 12 teams to March Madness in each of the last two seasons, a record that no other conference has matched since the Big Ten, SEC and ACC began bolstering their school lineups.
Ohio State still has a home and away game against head coach Brenda Frese and the Maryland Terrapins, who were dealt a blow during transfer season when All-Big Ten guard Kaylene Smikle left the program for the Tennessee Volunteers. Elsewhere, the teams that head coach Kevin McGuff’s side played on the road last year are the same teams to come to Columbus during the 2026-27 season.
Fans will see the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies travel across the country for games at the Schottenstein Center. That also means home games against teams near the bottom of the last two seasons’ standings against the Northwestern Wildcats, who are under new leadership with former Princeton head coach Carla Berube, who took over for Joe McKeown, who retired from the game at the end of the 25-26 season and Purdue Boilermakers.
Near the top of the standings, the Buckeyes welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the same side Ohio State defeated in the conference tournament in 2026, and both the Michigan State Spartans and Illinois Fighting Illini.
Rivalry-wise, the Scarlet and Gray get two teams on their home court that bring out a little more fire from the Columbus-area crowd. Outside of the Maryland Terrapins, the Buckeyes welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes and even though names like Jacy Sheldon, Cotie McMahon and Caitlin Clark are no longer part of the rivalry, the long tenured matchup between two sides that invested in women’s basketball long before the rest of the nation caught up has a way of exciting those in attendance.
With rivalry still in mind, the Michigan Wolverines are still a team Ohio State plays once in the conference slate. That means a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan after the two sides played an overtime thriller in Columbus last season. The Buckeyes also travel to Bloomington, Indiana to face the Hoosiers and a tough flight out west to face the defending national champions at UCLA and the return of guard JuJu Watkins with the USC Trojans.
Outside of Big Ten play, the Buckeyes do have one non-conference game confirmed from a preseason announcement from the summer of 2025. Ohio State will get the UConn Huskies in Columbus after the two sides played the first of a home-and-home last year where guard Azzi Fudd and forward Sarah Strong dismantled the Buckeyes 100-68.
