As quickly as No. 21 Ohio State women’s basketball’s Big Ten season arrived, it was gone. The randomly placed first weekend of the conference season is behind the Buckeyes. So, it is back to nonconference warmup matchups, at least on paper.
It begins Thursday against the Northern Kentucky Norse of the Horizon League. What the Buckeyes learned from the 79-70 Big Ten opening victory will be clear early against the Norse, while one player continues down a road not traveled by many of Ohio State’s best defenders in recent seasons.
A criticism of Sunday’s win came from head coach Kevin McGuff, directed at his players. Northwestern went up 16-10 after one quarter, and in those 10 minutes, the Buckeyes looked outmatched, tired, and disinterested.
“That’s a really dangerous way to start a Big Ten game,” McGuff told Land-Grant Holy Land. “We were able to get away with the win today, and we did play better as the game went on, but that was a really bad way to start the game.”
Northwestern has not competed near the top of the Big Ten in four seasons, now known as a side holding down the bottom of the conference standings, and the Wildcats made Ohio State look like the weaker side. The Buckeyes are young, with only five returning players from last year who stepped into a competitive game.
There are only three upperclassmen on the 11-player team, and playing down to a team, or looking past one, is not something Ohio State can afford.
Last year, the Buckeyes did that with the Penn State Nittany Lions and handed the 18th team in the 18-team conference its lone win of the entire Big Ten slate.
McGuff was serious about the slow start. So much so that he benched forward Kylee Kitts for the entire second quarter after a lackadaisical first quarter. What Ohio State’s coach wants is a consistent level of intensity and to continue building towards 40 minutes of complete basketball, regardless of the jersey on the other team.
Will Ohio State show that it learned that lesson against Northern Kentucky?
The Norse are 3-8 with double-digit defeats to start the first four games of the season, including a 61-89 loss to then the No. 20-ranked Louisville Cardinals of the ACC. Northern Kentucky bounced back to win three of its next seven, but none against power conference sides. The side from just outside of Cincinnati, across the Ohio River, travels north after two conference losses and sits at the bottom of the Horizon League in defense (73.5 points per game allowed) and ninth out of 11 teams in shooting efficiency (37.7%).
So, theoretically, this is a game that Ohio State could look past if it wanted, but that is not what McGuff wants. It is a goal for any coach to have their team play the way they practice each game, for 40 minutes, but that is unrealistic. Ohio State showed it can flip a switch, as it did in the second quarter against Northwestern or the final minutes against then No. 21 West Virginia to come back from a seven-point deficit.
That kind of turnaround is more difficult against upcoming conference teams like No. 4 UCLA or No. 6 Michigan.
On Sunday, redshirt junior guard Kennedy Cambridge picked up her 100th NCAA steal. With a four-steal performance, Cambridge hit 101, with 80 coming in Ohio State scarlet and gray.
Watch Cambridge, and the guard is the definition of hustle. Cambridge will run up behind a player who makes even the slightest dribbling snafu, poke the ball away, and go on the fastbreak. It looks effortless when Cambridge gets near the paint and times a block under the basket on a taller opponent. All the while, Cambridge smiles.
In recent seasons, the Buckeyes have had their fair share of strong defenders. Former point guard Jacy Sheldon started the 2022-23 season with 20 steals in two games. Duke transfer shooting guard Celeste Taylor won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in her lone Big Ten campaign. Then there is hybrid guard/forward Taylor Thierry, who patrolled the middle of the court with size, brains, and unmatched athleticism to lead the Big Ten in steals.
Cambridge has done something none of them have done in their NCAA careers. Careers that ended with each of them on a WNBA team the first season out of college.
The Buckeye guard has at least four steals in each of the last five games. Cambridge has 21 in the last five games. In Ohio State’s 130-32 rout of the Niagara Purple Eagles, Cambridge had five steals in only 14 minutes on the court. Cambridge leads the conference in steals per game and is seventh in the nation.
So far this season, Cambridge, alongside younger sister Jaloni Cambridge, is the backbone of the Ohio State full-court press. While Jaloni Cambridge is the focal point of the offense, Kennedy Cambridge is equally important on the defensive side of the ball. With four nonconference opponents from mid-major conferences ahead for the Buckeyes, that streak has a strong likelihood of continuing.
Student Appreciation Night
Thursday night’s 6:30 p.m. ET tip airs live on B1G+, but students who attend live have the chance to win fabulous prizes like a PlayStation gaming console, personalized jerseys, and more. Every student with a BuckID gets into the game for free, and the first 500 in attendance get a t-shirt.
