Trust and big moments make Ohio State women’s comeback over Michigan a reality

Wednesday’s win makes rivalry real to new members of the Scarlet and Gray.

It’s difficult to describe a rivalry. Some can minimize it to a simple feeling of hate towards one team or institution, but it’s more nuanced. Rivalry comes in jokes back and forth with friends on the other side, water cooler talk with coworkers, or a scowl every time you drive past that one house that puts up the opposing team’s flag in enemy territory.

For No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball, they had new names initiated into the rivalry, including Ohio-born and raised Chance Gray.

“I knew the history of it, I know it’s across all sports. So I was just excited to play,” said Gray. “But once that crowd came out booing us, it was kind of go time for me.”

The No. 25 Michigan Wolverines, playing in front of a loud Crisler Center crowd, came out the aggressors. Head coach Kim Barnes Arico’s Maize and Blue came out with a plan to get through the Ohio State press and it worked flawlessly in the first quarter. Michigan found open passing lanes in the press and frequently got the ball to an open Wolverine on the perimeter, going 10-of-12 from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Michigan’s shooting cooled in the second quarter, but not much. The Wolverines outshot the Buckeyes 57.1 percent to 35.7 percent and the visitors from Columbus went into the halftime locker room down 13 points, a deficit made slightly better with guard Madison Greene hitting a corner three with one second remaining in the half.

Cue the halftime locker room speech.

“Who are we going to be? Are we going to just sit around and feel sorry for ourselves because we got our asses kicked in the first half or are we going to come out and fight?”

That was the message from head coach Kevin McGuff to his team. More specifically, his starters that didn’t get a second of in-game rest in the second half. McGuff opted to go with all five of his starters for the remaining 20 minutes, challenging his team to prove themselves and earn the victory.

The Buckeyes answered the call, especially freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge who had a cold first half of shooting, going 3-of-11 from the floor. Despite what sounds like a fiery halftime talk from McGuff, the message to Cambridge was clear.

“I told her at halftime, you know, she got some really good shots in the first half, but she didn’t make them,” said McGuff. “I said, you’re going to make at least 10 shots in the second half.”

McGuff was close. Cambridge went 8-of-12 in the final 20 minutes, leading all scorers with 22 second-half points and 29 points overall.

“It just uplifts me and just know that he believes in me,” said Cambridge about McGuff instilling confidence in the freshman instead of pulling her for maybe a more experienced Madison Greene.

Cambridge wasn’t alone, with Gray scoring 14 timely points in the second half. Four times, Gray either tied the game or brought it to within a possession. Gray scored nine of the final 11 points for Ohio State in the third quarter, all from deep.

Then there’s the play of senior guard/forward Taylor Thierry. The four-year Buckeye ended the game with eight points and seven rebounds, but there were two key moments in the second half where Thierry turned the tide.

The first came with 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter. After Cambridge tied the game for the Buckeyes, Michigan walked down the court to set up their offense, an offense that kept Ohio State at bay for more than four minutes that stretched from the end of the third quarter through the fourth. What looked like any normal pass to a teammate on the perimeter, a moment seen and ignored hundreds of times in basketball games for over a hundred years gave Ohio State a lead that they wouldn’t lose.

Thierry anticipated a pass as mundane as they come and was off on a fast break. All in a day’s work for the senior.

“She made some huge plays,” said McGuff. “And that’s what you kind of expect out of your seniors and somebody who’s played as many big games as Taylor’s played.”

The hybrid guard from Northeast Ohio had two blocks in the final quarter too, with the timeliest coming with under two minutes remaining, and the Buckeyes up two points. Michigan was on the offensive, having just made a three on their previous possession to make it a one-point game.

After Ohio State missed a free throw on offense, the Wolverines got the ball into the paint for a playmaker to make the play. From behind, Thierry blocked a shot by the Wolverines’ top scorer on the day, freshman guard Olivia Olson. That turned into an Ohio State basket on the other end of the court.

“I remember doing an interview earlier this year before the season started and they asked me, who did I think was the most underrated player,” said Cambridge. “I said Taylor Thierry, and those are a prime example why.”

The offense of Gray and Cambridge, along with the big play moments created by Thierry, and really everyone on the Buckeyes roster coming up at key times in the second half, turned a crowd fueled by rivalry into a shell of its earlier self.

A loud, raucous, Crisler Center chanting “Air Ball” at McMahon and booing at any perceived slight against their home university, started filing out of the arena before the final buzzer, seeing that the writing was on the wall as Ohio State’s lead slowly grew from the free throw line in the final minute of regulation.

“I didn’t really feel it until I was really out there,” said Cambridge about The Rivalry. “And they were just being really physical. I’ve never experienced like that yet.”

With Cambridge and a trio of freshmen starters in Michigan’s program who suffered their first rivalry loss, it’s only the beginning of a story that Ohio State put an exclamation point on in the newest chapter.