The Buckeyes will look to continue their undefeated season as they welcome Oregon for the first time as Big Ten foes.
The Ohio State women’s basketball team (15-0, 4-0) are back home this afternoon to take on the Oregon Ducks (12-4, 3-2), breaking up a stretch where the Buckeyes are playing three out of four games on the road.
Sunday’s game is Ohio State’s first home game since a 30-point win over Northwestern last Sunday, and the Buckeyes won’t be home again until Thursday, January 23rd, when they take on the 8th-ranked Maryland Terrapins.
Kevin McGuff’s squad has opened the season with 15 consecutive wins, including a dramatic come from behind win over the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor on Wednesday night. Ohio State trailed by 16 points in the first half at one point and by single-digits in the fourth quarter, but rallied to pick up a win over their rivals up north, 84-77.
DEFENSE TO OFFENSE ️ pic.twitter.com/64CgNya7rE
— Ohio State Women’s Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) January 9, 2025
Ohio State’s 15-game winning streak is the longest since the program opened the 2022-2023 season with 19 wins, on the way to an eventual Elite Eight appearance. The program record is 20 consecutive wins.
Preview
This is an Oregon program that’s missed the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons, but has started out 3-2 in the Big Ten in its first season in the league. As of Sunday morning, ESPN “bracketologist” Charlie Creme has the Ducks by a pretty safe margin — they’re a 10-seed and avoiding the First Four play-in games.
Head coach Kelly Graves is now in year 11 in Eugene, and his Ducks are fresh off of a 63-61 win over Penn State Thursday night. After the Nittany Lions tied things up at 61 with 1:40 remaining in the game, Deja Kelly — a transfer guard who left North Carolina as the program’s seventh-leading scorer all-time — dribbled over a screen and knocked down the game-winner with four seconds remaining in Happy Valley.
DK called game #GoDucks x @dejakelly25 pic.twitter.com/T2W64wHrub
— Oregon Women’s Basketball (@OregonWBB) January 10, 2025
The win improved Oregon’s road record to 2-1 this season. They’ll be looking to improve that to 3-1 Sunday afternoon in Columbus.
Oregon’s leading scorer Peyton Scott is not expected to play, as she’s been out with a knee injury suffered during the Ducks’ win over Northwestern on New Year’s Eve. Scott has Ohio ties — she is from Lynchburg, Ohio and played her first three collegiate seasons at Miami of Ohio. Scott transferred to Oregon in 2023 after scoring 1,871 points in Oxford and leaving as the fourth-leading scorer in program history. Sadly, it’s not looking like she will be able to suit up Sunday afternoon in her home state.
Like Scott, Kelly averages 10.9 points per game this season and has scored in double-digits in three of her last four games. She’s also averaging 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Junior forward Amina Muhammad, a transfer from Texas, is averaging 8.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and is shooting a career-best 57.8% overall.
The Ducks have a daunting presence below the basket in the form of 6-foot-8 center Phillipina Kyei. The senior is averaging 10.7 points and seven rebounds over her last three games, and is taller than anyone on Ohio State’s roster.
Oregon is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the Big Ten at 29.1%, and that is with one of their better shooters — Scott — playing in 14 of their 16 games. They were 3-for-17 from beyond the arc against Penn State.
The Ducks take roughly 28% of their shots from beyond the arc, but were much more successful pounding the rock in the painted area against the Nittany Lions, outscoring Penn State 20-12 in the paint. Oregon has shot much better from two-point range this season, hitting those shots at an even 52%.
These two teams most recently met in the San Diego Invitational on Dec. 21, 2022 when the Buckeyes earned an 84-67 win. Today’s game is the second meeting between the two teams during Kevin McGuff’s tenure, but he is very familiar with the Ducks from his two seasons at the University of Washington.
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Oregon, 3-1. This is the first meeting between these teams in Columbus, and the first time they’ve played as conference opponents.
Like Ohio State, Oregon is one of the more sure-handed teams in the conference, averaging 13.9 turnovers per game — the fourth-lowest in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are nearly identical in that category, averaging 13.3 turnovers per game.
If McGuff’s squad isn’t able to generate a ton of turnovers against the Ducks (they’ve forced a combined 69 turnovers against their last three opponents), look for the Buckeyes to try and create mismatches on the perimeter Sunday afternoon.
While Oregon having a 6-foot-8 center presents its challenges, Ohio State could potentially turn that into an advantage depending on which personnel McGuff uses. Against Michigan, he leaned heavily on his starters, not subbing at all in the second half.
Keep an eye out for possible ball screen actions on the perimeter by the Buckeyes — McGuff would be wise to try and use screens to isolate Kyei on the perimeter against McMahon and Thierry. While neither are knock-down shooters, they both present some length (both are taller than six-foot), and are also serviceable shooters. Kyei won’t want to chase either around or try to defend the perimeter. If Ohio State can effectively switch the assignment using screens, it could put Kyei and the Ducks in a bind defensively.
How to Watch
Date: Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Where: The Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Stream: B1G+
LGHL Score Prediction: No. 9 Ohio State 88, Oregon 71