Game Preview: No. 8 Ohio State women face Indiana, in Bloomington

The Buckeyes head to Hoosier country in hopes of picking up a quality win on the road against an up and down Indiana.

After three top-four finishes in the past four seasons, the Indiana Hoosiers (16-9, 8-6) are in a period of transition following the exit of forward Mackenzie Holmes, the program’s all-time leading scorer. For Ohio State women’s basketball (22-3, 11-3), Thursday’s trip to Assembly Hall is full of opportunities.

A win gives the Buckeyes a quad-one victory, the highest level of victory the NCAA Tournament Committee considers for March Madness seeding, beating the Hoosiers on the road for the first time in four years and the opportunity for new members of the Scarlet and Gray to play in a hostile environment.

Despite a subpar record compared to recent current Indiana success, the Hoosiers still feature strong names from seasons past. Also, a pair of transfers who joined head coach Teri Moren to help solidify an Indiana side that’s still in position for postseason basketball after the conference tournament.

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Preview

Over the past four seasons, matchups between the Buckeyes and Hoosiers have trended towards the Scarlet and Gray. After losing five consecutive games against Indiana in three seasons, Ohio State erased a 24-point Hoosier lead in the 2023 Big Ten Tournament, beating Indiana 79-75.

The Buckeyes won their next matchup against Hoosiers in Columbus, but Thursday is the first time the Scarlet and Gray head back to Bloomington since Jan 2023. From those teams, guards Yarden Garzon, Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish still feature for coach Moren. Moore-McNeil provides veteran leadership at the point guard position, while Garzon and Parrish are dangerous shooters from beyond the arc.

Joining the trio of guards is former Penn State guard Shay Ciezki who transferred to Indiana in the offseason. While Ciezki doesn’t have the same shooting from beyond the arc as now-graduated Hoosier Sara Scalia, the junior attacks the basket aggressively and will challenge the Ohio State defense.

The glaring reason the Hoosiers are down this season is post play. Former two-time AP All-American Holmes left for the WNBA in the offseason, taking with her a 65 percent shooting efficiency, mainly coming inside the paint.

Coach Moren brought in senior forward Karoline Striplin from the Tennessee Volunteers to help fill the void. The 6-foot-3 forward adjusted slowly to Indiana’s system after appearing 91 times for the Volunteers in three seasons, but enters Thursday starting the last eight games for Indiana and averaging 12.8 points per game.

However, Indiana still struggles picking up second chance scoring opportunities and extra possessions. The Hoosiers have 80 offensive rebounds in 14 games, the lowest of any team in the Big Ten, with the next team above them grabbing 112 offensive boards and Ohio State coming in at No. 16 with 125. That gives a rare offensive rebounding edge to forward Ajae Petty and center Elsa Lemmilä.

Turnover-wise, Indiana commits the fifth-fewest turnovers in the Big Ten (14.2) but the Minnesota Golden Gophers only gave the ball away 10.1 times per game until they lost the ball 19 times against the Buckeyes.

What could potentially stop the turnover margin is the level of experience in the Indiana backcourt with graduate seniors Moore-McNeil and Parrish.

The matchup to watch is Moore-McNeil against Ohio State freshman point guard Jaloni Cambridge. Moore-McNeil started the last 89 games for the Hoosiers, a leader on and off the court for coach Moren.

Even so, Cambridge is on a tear. The freshman scored a personal Big Ten single game high of 29 points against Iowa and averages 16.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, four assists and 2.2 steals per game over the last five games. How will the Buckeyes’ star underclassmen play in an environment that promises to be loud and aggressive?

Indiana has a three-game winning streak at Assembly Hall, although it sandwiches two losses. The Hoosiers lost two of their last three and don’t have a win against any team in the top half of the conference standings.

All perimeter players for the Scarlet and Gray need to be prepared for a barrage of three-point attempts. Indiana leads the conference in Big Ten play with 8.36 three-point shots made per game. Ohio State is third in conference play, holding teams to 30.1 percent from beyond the arc, but allowed the Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes to shoot 33.3 percent and 40 percent from deep in the last two games.

Should that trend continue Thursday, it won’t only feed the Hoosier faithful, but it will dig the Buckeyes into a hole in which they can’t recover. Defense overall will be a focal point. Junior forward Cotie McMahon hasn’t minced words lately talking about the lack of intensity and players not doing what they need to be doing on defense.

Is Thursday the game Ohio State strings together a full 40 minutes of consistent defense? It’s clear that the Buckeyes haven’t reached their peak this season, but with four games remaining, head coach Kevin McGuff’s side is looking for evidence that the team is climbing towards it.

Recently, McGuff’s favored the 6-foot-6 freshman Lemmilä and redshirt sophomore guard Kennedy Cambridge, and their defensive presence paid off for the Buckeyes. Will McGuff leverage the two more against the Hoosiers or give his entire starting five the opportunity to take the lead?

The Buckeye coach isn’t playing favorites on the court this season, not afraid to put a starter on the bench if the play isn’t there. McGuff’s also played around with who he has on the court together. In the last three games, graduate senior guard Madison Greene began playing on the court with Jaloni Cambridge, giving the freshman more freedom offensively while Greene brings stability. It’s a pairing to expect Thursday where all of the Hoosiers’ four starting guards are upperclassmen with big game experience.

Regardless of who gets Ohio State there, if the Buckeyes win it earns the team a third quad one win. Entering Thursday, the Scarlet and Gray’s four quad one games is the lowest in the top-16 released by the NCAA Tournament Committee on Sunday. A win will further solidify the Buckeyes’ chances of hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Lose and it could strengthen the argument of sending the Scarlet and Gray out on the road for March Madness.

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Projected Starters

Ohio State

G- Jaloni Cambridge
G- Chance Gray
G- Taylor Thierry
F- Cotie McMahon
F- Ajae Petty

Lineup Notes

• Cotie McMahon hit 500 career rebounds in Ohio State’s win over Iowa on Monday.
• Jaloni Cambridge’s 2.1 steals per game is fifth best in the Big Ten.
• The three Ohio State starters not named Jaloni Cambridge or Cotie McMahon combined to score 11 points against the Hawkeyes on Monday.

Indiana

G- Chloe Moore-McNeil
G- Shay Ciezki
G- Sydney Parrish
G- Yarden Garzon
F- Karoline Striplin

Lineup Notes

• Yarden Garzon leads Hoosiers starters in deep shooting, hitting 2.4 per game at a team-high 39.9 percent.
• Karoline Striplin played once against Ohio State, scoring five points with one rebound in 11 minutes last season when the Buckeyes defeated the Volunteers in Knoxville.
• Indiana is third in the conference in free throw percentage, going 79.7 percent from the line.

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Prediction

The Hoosiers have more to gain from beating the Buckeyes than the inverse. Indiana is still searching for a marquee victory against a top team in the conference and Ohio State has struggled against the Hoosiers in recent history.

Indiana will get off to a hot start, feeding off the crowd early, but the noise will also help the visitors succeed in the full court press. Communication will be key for the Hoosiers but when the decibels are high in Assembly Hall, the Buckeyes will force mistakes.

Taylor Thierry will have a strong performance, with an advantage inside the post offensively with her athletic ability unmatched by Indiana. Ohio State will use Thierry, Petty, McMahon and Cambridge’s ability to get inside to their advantage against a less physical interior presence from Indiana.

Ohio State will pull away in the second half, and win the game in regulation.

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How to Watch

Date: Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
Watch: Peacock

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LGHL Score Prediction: 72-64, Ohio State Buckeyes

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McGuff Earns Watchlist Spot

On Thursday, head coach Kevin McGuff joined UCLA’s Cori Close and USC’s Lindsay Gottlieb as the lone Big Ten representatives on the Naismith Werner Ladder Coach of the Year watchlist.

McGuff won the Big Ten Coach of the Year last season after winning the Big Ten regular season championship with the Buckeyes. This season, two of the team’s three losses came against the Bruins and Trojans, making it fitting that McGuff joins the other two coaches leading top-10 Big Ten teams in the nation.

Also included are other big name coaches like UConn’s Geno Auriemma, Notre Dame’s Noelle Ivey and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley. The Gamecocks head coach won three of the last four National Coach of the Year honors, with former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer winning the fourth.