How Ohio State’s win over Purdue reset the Buckeyes — maybe

Was the win Sunday what Kevin McGuff’s side needed to set the season straight, or was the big win over Purdue more deceptive than it seems?

In January of 2023, Ohio State women’s basketball traveled to Bloomington on a chilly Thursday evening and lost by double digits to the Indiana Hoosiers. Then, three days later, the Buckeyes lost, at home, to an underdog Purdue Boilermakers. It was the third loss in a row that began with a home defeat to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes, and exposed an Ohio State side that previously won 19 games to start the season.

While the Buckeyes didn’t win 19 games to start the 2024-25 campaign, a similar run of play against Iowa, Indiana and Purdue this season exposed cracks. Against Iowa, the Scarlet and Gray gave up a double-digit lead with 1:38 left in the game, ultimately ending in an overtime Buckeye victory.

Ohio State’s loss the Hoosiers Thursday on a frigid Indiana night continued the storyline that the Buckeyes can’t consistently defend. Plus, lackluster offense by anyone without McMahon or J. Cambridge on the back of their jersey left many wondering how far this Ohio State team would go. Or more accurately, can the Buckeyes get out of the first or second round of March Madness?

On Sunday, Ohio State ended a five-game run of either a loss or a salvaged overtime win after a blown lead in a big way when they defeated the Purdue Boilermakers by 52 points. Was the rout due to the Buckeyes overcoming their in-game issues or was it the product of playing a Purdue side that’s struggling mightily this season?

Here are signs that the victory is the reset the Buckeyes needed.

---

40 Minutes of Pressure

Since losing to the Penn State Nittany Lions on Jan. 19, a tradition of Ohio State post game press conferences included junior forward Cotie McMahon sharing how the defense doesn’t play 40 minutes of basketball. It included moments where the outspoken Buckeye leader nearly called out specific players’ lack of attention and questioning the grit of the team as a whole.

Sunday, Ohio State showed grit and defensive prowess from the jump through the final buzzer. In every quarter, the Buckeyes forced at least five turnovers. There were plays by guard/forward Taylor Thierry who followed up her Senior Day ceremony with plays fans have watched for nearly four seasons where the senior leaps at midcourse to halt passes in their tracks.

Then there were moments from the Cambridge sisters Jaloni and Kennedy where the two either poked the ball away or picked up loose balls to swing momentum in the Buckeyes’ favor. The two combined for seven of Ohio State’s 12 steals this season, over their 11.7 average per game.

“I thought we executed way better,” said head coach Kevin McGuff. “Our ball pressure at the point of attack was way better. And I think our patience in trapping, so they weren’t just making easy passes over our head, was better. So, our execution in the press was a lot better today.”

The Buckeyes forced 21 turnovers in the victory, but that doesn’t tell the entire story because looking simply at turnovers and connecting them to a win doesn’t ‘t work considering Ohio State forced 23 turnovers against both the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans.

What was different Sunday was how those turnovers morphed into points. The Buckeyes scored 35 points off 46 combined turnovers in two games in Los Angeles. Against Purdue on Sunday Ohio State turned 21 turnovers into 35 points.

Turnovers are the way the Buckeyes get most of their extra possessions, because most of the time Ohio State gets rebounded out of the gym, Against Indiana, a team that was last in the conference in offensive rebounds, the Buckeyes were still out rebounded on the offensive boards and by 14 rebounds total.

Height is part of the rebounding game, but it’s also the intensity to get into the paint and fight for the ball. Ohio State did that Sunday, grabbing 45 rebounds and holding Purdue to 33, including a 10-6 advantage on offensive boards turning into eight second chance points.

“We didn’t seem connected at all offensively or defensively,” said guard Chance Gray. “And I think like we took a big step in that direction and just McGuff talking about playing a complete 40-minute game. And we definitely took a step in the right direction today.”

Ohio State beat Purdue in every single team category. More shots, more efficient shooting, more rebounds of every kind, less turnovers, more steals and more assists. Every single statistic leaned in the Scarlet and Gray’s favor. The one that jumps out the most though is three-point shooting, and it came from what’s recently been an unlikely source.

---

Chance Gray and Ajae Petty Reintroduction

Shooting is a streaky thing. For Gray, it’s been a streak in the wrong direction. Against the Nittany Lions, Gray was one of only a couple bright spots in the loss, scoring 18 points and hitting two shots from beyond the arc.

In the eight games that followed, Gray hit three shots from deep total and went 25.4 percent from the floor with 6.5 points per game. The former McDonald’s All-American and star for the Oregon Ducks was missing shots and losing minutes in the timeframe. Despite open looks, the shots weren’t falling and the Buckeyes were desperate for deep shooting.

Against Purdue, the floodgates broke for Gray. The junior shooting guard went 5-of-12 from three-point range, while the Boilermakers went 5-of-18 as an entire team.

It was a slow start for Gray, who started the first half going 1-of-4 from deep, and 1-of-5 overall, but look back to the 40 minutes of pressure idea and Gray didn’t give in. Gray scored 18 points in the second half and hit half of her eight shots from deep.

The dip in form wasn’t because of contested shots either. Gray was missing open looks in each game. So, that means Sunday might have been what the Buckeyes need from the guard to start hitting a positive run of form.

“This is probably the most I had to work at it just to try to get back in that groove,” said Gray. “All I need to see is one go in, then I’m fine after that. So it was good just to see a couple fall and then keep plugging on from here. I wanted to see it get back out of it before we head into March.”

Gray wasn’t alone. Ajae Petty’s struggles followed the same downward trajectory as Gray, leading to fewer minutes and more time on the court for freshman center Elsa Lemmilä. It felt like any game could see Petty go to the bench and Lemmilä become the Buckeyes’ starter, a role the Finn is likely to hold for the next three years.

Since hitting a double-double against the Oregon Ducks, the third in the previous seven games for Petty, the Kentucky graduate transfer fell hard. In the previous eight games, Petty averaged 5.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, not hitting even double-digit scoring or rebounding in any of the games. In the last three games of that stretch, Petty a total of 42 minutes, and two of those games went to overtime.

Ohio State only won the rebounding margin because of the play of Petty. The forward had 14 rebounds, tying her total against the Ducks. That included four offensive rebounds. Defensively, Petty had three blocks, tied with Lemmilä with the two both splitting the game with 20 minutes a piece.

Petty was more active against Purdue than in recent games. The graduate senior showed how vital she is to any sort of run of Ohio State to end the season.

Also, the partnership with Lemmilä means there isn’t a drop from the starter Petty to the freshman bench center. That takes away any kind of break for opponents if both are playing to the potential shown against Purdue.

Both Gray and Petty visibly lost confidence over the last month of the season. Look at the Boilermakers record entering Sunday and it wasn’t great. Purdue was 9-17 and only two wins came in Big Ten play. Realistically, a team led by McMahon and Cambridge offensively would have likely been enough to defeat the Boilermakers.

The fact that it was led by Gray’s shooting and a double-double by Petty means more.

---

What Comes Next

Now it’s time for that “maybe.”

Ohio State beat a team that it should beat, playing the game it should play for nearly 40 minutes and featured play from athletes that were previously struggling.

The perceived positives from the Purdue pouncing won’t amount to much if the Buckeyes struggle to follow it up in the final two games of the season. Ohio State plays the Michigan State Spartans and Maryland Terrapins, sides that will give the Buckeyes different looks.

On Wednesday, it’s the Spartans who play a similar style to the Buckeyes. Head coach Robyn Fralick plays a full-court defense that sightly resembles Ohio State, complete with former Buckeye guard Emma Shumate on the roster. Both sides force turnovers in bunches and average double-digit steals per game.

“I think it’ll be a good test for us just to test how we handle the ball and handle a lot of pressure,” said Gray.

To add to the pressure, two wins in the last two regular season games means Ohio State earns a bye into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Also, a higher likelihood of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, a privilege that the Buckeyes are close to losing after sitting as a No. 14 out of the 16 who get to host. That was before traveling to Indiana and losing to the unranked Hoosiers.

Then it’s a trip to College Park to face the Maryland Terrapins, Ohio State beat the Terps 74-66 back on Jan. 23, but that was without guard Shyanne Sellers, who suffered a knee injury in the game prior to the defeat.

Ohio State has three wins in 10 games on Maryland’s home court. It’s not an easy place for teams to play, let alone steal a victory even with the Terrapins’ recent issues.

Maryland lost four of five games when guard Bri McDaniel went down for the season and Sellers momentarily left the lineup. Since the poor run, Maryland has four wins in their last five, including two away wins against Oregon and the Washington Huskies, plus a home victory against the Michigan Wolverines. Their lone defeat in the most recent stretch was due to the Nebraska Cornhuskers bullying head coach Brenda Frese’s team on the boards.

It will be a chance for Ohio State to not only continue the form shown on Sunday, but turn these games into a tryout for the postseason that is quickly approaching in less than two weeks.

“Yeah, I mean these are really good teams and so they’re going to challenge us to be at our best which I think that’s the thing for us,” said McGuff. “When we’re good, we’re good. We just have to be there for closer to 40 minutes, so hopefully these last two very challenging games will keep us going in that right direction.”