Ohio State women’s basketball returned on Monday.
While no athletic competition’s result is guaranteed, the University of Illinois Chicago Flames did not come into the start of the regular season anywhere close to favored over the Power Four conference foes from Columbus. What resulted was an 81-34 lopsided victory for head coach Kevin McGuff’s side.
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Every season, teams take on mid-major sides like the Flames and sometimes it can be difficult to learn anything about a team from one of those kind of games. However, as the first game of the year, there are some lessons to take from the game, positives and a word of caution.
The Good – Defense
Winning is great. Even if it is against a team that went 14-18 last season and 9-11 in the Missouri Valley Conference, Ohio State played its style of basketball and imposed their will on its opponents, mostly.
The Buckeyes had eight blocks, and three came from center Elsa Lemmilä. Guard Kennedy Cambridge had a block so intense that the ball would have broken through the floor if it was in a Space Jam movie.
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What it showed was a team that is making it to the spots they need to get to on defense to make a difference. The roster includes eight returning players, including four regular starters, but they focused on improving one area of their defensive ability.
“Something that we put an emphasis recently on in practice a lot is communication, and something we still need to get better at. But we have gotten a lot better, especially from our scrimmages recently,” Lemmilä told reporters. “And communication is really just the key for all of our playing. But half-court defense, a lot of communication is necessary.”
Ohio State grabbed 10 steals and forced 21 turnovers. Defensively, the Scarlet and Gray made the trip to Columbus pretty rough for the visitors from the Windy City.
McGuff’s group held UIC to 34 points. Last season, the Buckeyes held teams to 34 or fewer only twice. The return of upperclassmen leaders was evident in how the side clogged passing lanes and effectively used their havoc-inducing full court press.
The Bad – Sustained Intensity
Going ahead by 20 points after one quarter of basketball can get boring.
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Non-conference games against Mid-Major opponents are often plagued with domination from one side, like last season when the Buckeyes broke a program record and allowed no points in the first quarter against Bellarmine. It was the first game of the season, and not a close contest, but after the first half there was a noticeable drop off for Ohio State.
“Our focus, intensity, were good from the tip, but I don’t think we sustained it for as long as we’re going to need to for us to be the team we want to be,” McGuff told reporters. “And in particular, I thought when we didn’t make shots in the second half, it really affected the intensity and focus on the defensive end.”
Ohio State scored 50 in the first half but only 31 in the second. Bellarmine nearly won the quarter in the third, down 16 to 18 for the 10-minute period.
During that quarter, the Buckeyes shot 33.3% and 20% from three-point range. Defensively, those 16 points were nearly half of Bellarmine’s 34 with the rest of the 18 points spread out over 30 minutes of basketball.
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The Buckeyes adjusted and allowed only five points in the fourth quarter, but as the opponent strength increases, taking quarters off can hurt even the most talented of college programs.
The Good – Sydney Mobley
As is the case early in a season, up against mid-major opponents, McGuff used nearly all of his available players, 10 of 11 with forward Ella Hobbs the lone player on the bench.
Outside of scrimmages, Ohio State has not seen how the team plays together in real game environments and getting everyone on the court is a tryout for players on the edge of the roster.
Overall, 21 of Ohio State’s 81 points came from players on the bench and freshman forward Sydney Mobley scored 14 of them.
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Being on the edge of the roster is not a derogatory idea. Most teams in the country rotate through eight to nine players regularly, unless it is a program like the Tennessee Volunteers where substitutions look more like hockey line changes.
Mobley entered her freshman season under the idea that she would be redshirt, until the 5-for-5 rule allowed her a year to play and not sit out game minutes.
Mobley made the most of those minutes and the Central Ohio native lived a dream.
“Felt very surreal,” Mobley told reporters. “I’ve grown up, you know, 30 minutes away from here, and I’ve come to games my whole life, and then it just felt amazing, finally being on the court.”
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McGuff added that the freshman has an uncanny ability to get the ball into the basket, which the big showed with a 7-for-11 shooting day where she even attempted a three, although it missed.
It is unclear how Mobley will be part of the plan once Big Ten games hit but the depth inside the post, with Mobley and fellow freshman Adriana Díaz, is now a strength for Ohio State.
“That’s been a little bit of an Achilles’ heel for us, from rebounding and defensive standpoint around the rim, and so hopefully they can they can help us with that, and then and then also score the ball a little bit,” said McGuff.
The Bad – Fighting Back Nerves
Players only get one first college game, and Díaz did not have the same offensive production as Mobley.
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The Spanish youth international missed all four of the shots she took and ended the night with two points, both on free throws. McGuff chalked it up to nerves, even though Díaz otherwise clearly showed how she can help the team even when she does not get the ball in the basket.
Díaz had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in nearly 19 minutes on the court. Defensively, the forward impacted the game more than a box score can show.
“I think she makes the people around her better with her IQ and her passing and her grasp of the offense,” said McGuff. “And she’s gonna make threes. She just seemed a little a little nervous, but you can see her shot is good. And so when she makes those shots, she’ll also help us space the floor.”
Nerves are not necessarily a bad thing in the first game of the season. There is much more basketball ahead of the Buckeyes than there is behind but the names of opponents go from UIC and Central Michigan to UConn, Ole Miss and Texas over the next month six weeks.
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Díaz won gold medals with Spain’s U18 team and has played in big game moments, so worrying about a lopsided win without her direct help getting the ball in the basket is fruitless.
The Bad – Three-Point Shooting
Good shooting performances come and go, but deep shots did not always fall easily last season for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State shot 28.2% as a team until the full Big Ten slate began against the UCLA Bruins in late December. McGuff’s group only lost one game in those first 12 games, but the level of opponent rarely challenged the Scarlet and Gray, outside of the one defeat other the UConn Huskies and a nervy finish at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
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On Tuesday, the Buckeyes shot 19.4% from beyond the arc. Of the five Ohio State starters, four missed at least two from deep, with Lemmilä being the lone starter to not to miss multiple threes because she took none.
In the preseason, point guard Jaloni Cambridge talked about her need to improve on her deep shooting after the Big Ten’s leading scorer shot 36% during the 25-26 season. Cambridge got off to a stronger start and went 3-for-8 but overall the starting five went 6-for-31.
Against a team like UIC, the Buckeyes can survive a shooting performance under 20%, but offense came and went last season for players not named Jaloni Cambridge last season. Players and teams get cold but if this continues, it can impact confidence and the willingness to shoot.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
