2 Seed UConn Huskies vs 3 Seed Ohio State Buckeyes
31-5 27-7
Saturday, March 25th, 4:00 PM
Climate Pledge Arena
Seattle, Washington
TV - ABC
OHIO STATE | UCONN LEADS 6-0
H: 2-0 | A: 2-0 | N: 2-0
12/19/10 #1 UConn 81, #11 OSU 50 New York, N.Y.
12/01/13 #1 UConn 70, OSU 49 Springfield, Mass.
11/16/15 #1 UConn 100, #6 OSU 56 Columbus, Ohio
12/19/16 #1 UConn 82, #12 OSU 63 Hartford, Conn.
11/11/18 #2 UConn 85, Ohio State 53 Storrs, Conn.
11/24/19 #4 UConn 73, Ohio State 62 Columbus, Ohio
Ohio State Overview
Ohio State has had an up and down season, like a few other teams this year. The Buckeyes started out winning their first 19 games of the season, moving as high as No. 2 in the polls. In those 19 games they beat Tennessee, Oregon, Michigan and Louisville. They looked like world beaters. Then they seemed to hit a wall.
They lost their next three games, losing to Iowa, Indiana and Purdue. They actually went 2-5 over their 7 games after the 19 game winning streak. It wasn't that they were losing games, but they were gettting hammered in those games. They lost by 11, 13, 8, 35, and 24 points. Something was definately wrong with the team.
Ohio State fans will tell you that losing Jaci Sheldon to injury was a big reason, but she was injured several games before the losing started.
They seemd to right the ship somewhat winning four of the next five games before losing to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament final by 35 points. When they lose, they don't mess around.
Entering the NCAA tournament on a downer, but beat 14 seed James Madison and then squeaked by 6 seed North Carolina to get to the Sweet Sixteen.
19-0 to start the season and 6-7 the last 13 games. Which Ohio State team will we see in this game?
UCONN
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UConn Starters
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OUT FOR THE SEASON
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Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State Starters
Ohio State Bench
Game Analysis
This is a tough to analyize. Ohio State has been a hard to to figure out. Are they the team that started the season 19-0? Or the team that finished 6-7? The team that beat Tennessee, Louisville, Indiana or the team that lost by 36 to Maryland, 24 points to Indiana, or 33 to Iowa. Those are some embarrassing losses. Really good teams don't lose like that. Let's look at the players.
Taylor Mikesell, a 5'11" senior guard, is the leading scorer for Ohio State. I'd look for her to play all 40 minutes in this one. She is averaging 17.2 PPG and is a terrific shooter. She is 40% on threes and 86% from the free throw line. However she just doesn't get to the line very often. Her game is outside. She takes more than half her shots from deep. She is the main focus of the offense taking 25% of the team's shots.
6' freshman forward Cotie McMahon is the second leadng scorer for the Buckeye, averaging 14.8 PPG. Cotie won the Big Ten freshman of the year award. She is a very aggressive player, using her strong body to get to the basket. She doesn't shoot very often from the outside and because of that she is shooting 51% from the field. She is second on the team in rebounding at 5.3 per game. Even though she is just a freshman, she is an emotional leader on this team. And a very good defensive player.
Taylor Thierry, a 6' sophomore forward, is the leading rebounder on the team at 6.7 RPG. She is third on the team in scoring at 14 PPG. She is very good at getting to the basket on the break. She leads the team in steals at over two per game.
Jacy Sheldon, 5'10" senior guard has only played 10 games this season, most of those early in the season. She is recently back from her injury and back into the starting lineup. She is a big part of the teams offense. She averages 12 PPG and is a better shooter than her 23% from deep shows. She does a good job getting the ball to the right player at the right time.
Ebony Walker, a 6' senior forward, is the fifth starter for the Buckeyes. She has been starting the last few games as Ohio State has gone small in their starting lineup. She is only averaging 4.5 PPG and 3.5 RPG. She is also only playing around 14 minutes per game.
The only size on the team is 6'4" forward, senior Rebeka Mikulasikova, who has started 25 of their 33 games. And she may start against UConn. She is a big body in the paint with very good footwork and can finish with either hand. She is averaging 10.7 PPG and takes the second most three pointers on the team shooting them at 33.1%.
Rikki Harris, a 5'10" RS junior guard, is the leading assist maker on the team at almost 4 per game. While Sheldon was out, she started at point guard position and will see plenty of timme in this game. She averages 7 PPG and 4.3 RPG.
The Buckeyes love to press. It's a huge part of their game plan. They not only press to speed up the game but they want to force turnovers and score off of those mistakes. They did that well against James Madison and North Carolina so far in the tournament scoring 37 points off of 37 turnovers in the two games. You'd think that would be an issue for UConn as they have had trouble with turnovers all season. But I've mentioned before, when Fudd is in the game, it's a different story. They average almost 18 turnovers per game without her and 14 with her playing. And I haven't seen a team press UConn into turnovers. It always seemed to be just sloppy play. The Huskies have every player on the court to help break the press. You can bet Geno will have them working hard on doing that.
UConn has a big advantage in the paint with Juhasz and Edwards. The Buckeyes have no one to guard Aaliyah. Muhl will be looking for that post pass all game long. And Fudd is back. The Huskies will be looking for the kick out to the open Azzi, Lou or Ducharme.
Final Prediction
This game will be decided on who can impose their style of play on the other team. Ohio State will press and try to force UConn to turn the ball over for easy buckets. UConn will try to use their size advantage to get easy buckets on the inside. The Huskies advantage is that they can play multiple ways, scoring inside and outside with their excellent three point shooting.
UConn has been pressing on their own with their new found rotation length of seven players. I'd look for them to try to press the pressers.
Ohio State is not a very good rebounding team and UConn is an excellent rebounding team. That will go a long way in deciding who will win this game.
The Huskies are just the better team and it will take a big effort on the Buckeye's part to keep it close enough to win at the end of the game. It's their only chance.
I see UConn continuing their excellent play in the tournament and taking it to the Buckeyes. It could be close for a while but UConn will pull away at the end.
UConn by 10+.
GO HUSKIES!!
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