Maryland won’t be at full strength Thursday, but to what extent and does that mean the absence of Shyanne Sellers?
The No. 12 Ohio State women’s basketball team (17-1, 6-1) and No. 8 Maryland Terrapins (16-2, 6-1) enter Thursday’s game at the Schottenstein Center wounded. On Sunday and Monday, the Buckeyes and Terrapins, respectively, both had difficult nights. For Ohio State, it was an upset loss to the unranked, winless in Big Ten play, Penn State Nittany Lions.
Monday night, the Terps played in the Coretta Scott King against the No. 7 Texas Longhorns hours after learning a key piece of the lineup, guard Bri McDaniel, was out with an ACL tear. To make matters worse, the 89-51 Texas rout of Maryland included All-Big Ten guard Shyanne Sellers leaving the game with a contact injury on her right knee.
Now, a game that potentially featured two top teams in the conference looks more like a chance for redemption for the Buckeyes. For Maryland, how can it work through roster unknowns?
Preview
The last time the Buckeyes and Terrapins faced off, Ohio State entered the Big Ten Tournament with the No. 1 overall seed. In all the previous appearances by a head coach Kevin McGuff-led Buckeyes team in the conference tournament, a top-four ranking meant at least one win before facing tougher sides in the semifinals and final.
Maryland entered the underdogs, facing the Scarlet and Gray twice in the regular season and losing both times, the first time Ohio State took two games against head coach Brenda Frese’s side in the same regular season since the 2015-16 campaign.
Instead, the Terrapins were the aggressors from the jump, stifling the Big Ten regular season champions to the tune of an 82-61 Maryland victory. In the win, the Terps were physical in the paint, playing through every second of the 40 minutes and out rebounding the Buckeyes 55-31 with 19 second-chance points.
This season looks a bit different. Ohio State has three new starters and Maryland added a proven Big Ten star but now is potentially down two others. How does it all impact Thursday’s game?
Against the Longhorns Monday night. Sellers injured her right knee, causing the Ohio native to sit for the remainder of the game, with Frese saying Sellers would get assessed on Tuesday. At the time of the injury the Terrapins were down 24 points, with 2:22 remaining in the second quarter.
Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Was Sellers sat because of the severity of injury or because the game was already getting out of hand? Frese said after the game, “We’re not going to get too high or too low in January and we’re going to figure it out. We always do.”
The injury couldn’t come at a worse time in the regular season, with the Buckeyes representing the third of four straight ranked teams in the Terrapins’ schedule. Maryland is in a stretch of games where six of seven games are against top-25 programs, the only team in the nation with that long of a stretch.
With Sellers, Maryland is every bit a contender at the top of the Big Ten. The Terps nearly took a game from the No. 4 USC Trojans, in College Park, Maryland but fell 79-74. Sellers led Maryland with 26 points, and followed that performance with a combined 48 points in the senior’s next two games against the Wisconsin Badgers and No. 24 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Without Sellers, Maryland still has former Rutgers guard and All-Freshman team selection Kaylene Smikle. Under Frese, Smikle leads Maryland with 17.8 points per game, attacking the basket and looking for whistles to go her way. Defensively, she plays aggressively and has a career high 85.5 defensive rating, compared to over 100 in her first season and a half with the Scarlet Knights.
The steal and the bucket for Kaylene Smikle #B1GWBBall x @TerpsWBB pic.twitter.com/PYusinzwtj
— Big Ten Women’s Basketball (@B1Gwbball) January 9, 2025
Outside of Smikle, Frese has choices if Sellers can’t play Thursday night. The Terps can go with a three forward starting set, bringing in Allie Kubek alongside consistent starters Christina Dalce and Saylor Poffenbarger. This group would cause the Buckeyes issues, as evidenced by Ohio State’s struggles on the boards against Penn State.
While forward Ajae Petty is part of the reason why the team is no longer last in the conference in rebounding, now up to 11th after finishing in 14th last season, Maryland averages six more rebounds per game than Ohio State. Poffenbarger leads the Terps with 8.9 rebounds per game in her first season in the Big Ten. Last season, Poffenbarger averaged a double-double in the SEC with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Dalce, Poffenbarger and Kubek would have the interior advantage, but lack pace against the Buckeyes offense. Another option for Frese is switching Sellers out with transfer guard/forward Mir McLean. The former Virginia Cavalier and UConn Husky averaged a career high 12.2 points and 9.6 rebounds in 15 games with Virginia last season, but averages 15.1 minutes per game under Frese.
What about the Buckeyes? Sunday, lack of creativity on offense was an issue. Outside of juniors Chance Gray and Cotie McMahon, nobody on Ohio State scored double-digits. With Jaloni Cambridge out due to illness, graduate senior guard Madison Greene stepped in and shot 1-of-2 from the floor, a far cry from the usual offense of Cambridge
The issues stretched far beyond a quiet day from Greene. In 32 substitute minutes, Ohio State only had five bench points. To the Nittany Lions’ credit, they clogged the paint and made any interior game hard to come by.
After the game, the Buckeyes blamed their own lack of grit and determination, vowing to come back better after the defeat. A return for Cambridge bodes well for the Buckeyes, who is already back at practice with no word of her missing a second game. Now, how will players like Taylor Thierry and Ajae Petty perform if the three strongest offensive weapons on the Buckeyes play to their capabilities?
Projected Starters
Ohio State
G- Jaloni Cambridge
G- Chance Gray
G- Taylor Thierry
F- Cotie McMahon
F- Ajae Petty
Lineup Notes
- Cotie McMahon had at least five in points, rebounds and assists on Sunday for the seventh time in her NCAA career.
- Chance Gray is averaging a career high 15.9 points per game in the shooting guard role for Ohio State
- Jaloni Cambridge earned her second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor this week after scoring 27 points and grabbing a career high eight rebounds against Penn State
Maryland
G- Kaylene Smikle
G- Sarah Te-Biasu
F- Allie Kubek
F- Christina Dalce
F- Allie Kubek
Lineup Notes
- Dalce is fourth in the Big Ten averaging 4.1 offensive rebounds per game.
- Saylor Poffenbarger is one of four SEC players last season to average a double-double, alongside LSU’s Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow and current Buckeye Ajae Petty.
- Coach Frese used six different starting lineups this season, and will potentially add a seventh if Sellers is out for the ranked matchup.
Prediction
This game almost needs two predictions, one for having Sellers available and another for the senior not playing.
Should Sellers play, it’ll be a close game down to the wire that will show what, if anything, Ohio State learned from their defeat to the Nittany Lions on Sunday. If Sellers doesn’t, it’s an easier night for the Buckeyes but it doesn’t mean a rout by any means. The Terps are still coached by Frese and still feature a lineup who has strengths that overtake Ohio State weaknesses.
How to Watch
Date: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2025
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET
Where: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
TV: Big Ten Network
Stream: FOX Sports App
LGHL Score Prediction: 78-73, Ohio State Buckeyes
International Night
Not only is Thursday arguably the toughest home game for the Buckeyes in the regular season. It’s also International Night!
That means the team will celebrate international athletes. This season, Ohio State features one international player in center Elsa Lemmilä. In the concourse, the first 1,000 fans can pick up a free Buckeyes shirt and learn more from international groups set up throughout the arena.