Fifth-year guard Jacy Sheldon (4), fifth-year guard Rikki Harris (1) and fifth-year forward Rebeka Mikulasikova (23) surround second-year forward Cotie McMahon (32) during No. 18 Ohio State’s 100-92 win over No. 2 Iowa at the Schottenstein Center Jan. 21. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
Nearly two months ago, then-No. 18 Ohio State turned its season around by defeating then-No. 2 Iowa 100-92 in overtime at Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center Jan. 21, despite a 45-point effort from Hawkeye senior guard Caitlin Clark.
Since then, the Buckeyes have jumped to No. 2 in the nation and are in the midst of a 15-game winning streak, the second-longest in program history.
Ohio State (25-3, 16-1 Big Ten) faces No. 6 Iowa (25-4, 14-3 Big Ten) for the second time this season Sunday at 1 p.m. CST at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, in a huge regular-season finale matchup.
Graduate guard Jacy Sheldon said the team is excited to close out the regular season with a rematch versus the Hawkeyes.
“I think it’ll be a good matchup. We’re excited to go there. It’s a great atmosphere — two really good teams,” Sheldon said. “We’re gonna come in ready and prepare these next couple of days, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Ohio State is coming off a 67-51 win over Michigan Wednesday at home, which clinched the outright Big Ten regular-season title for the Buckeyes for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
Sheldon led the way with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting from distance.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes are coming off a 108-60 thrashing of Minnesota Wednesday at Williams Arena. Clark led the Hawkeyes with her 17th career triple-double, finishing with 33 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
Clark also broke the all-time major-college women’s basketball scoring mark with 3,650 career points, surpassing Kansas Jayhawks legend Lynette Woodard, who had 3,649 career points, as well as the women’s single-season 3-point record with 156 made threes this season.
Clark, who recently announced she will declare for the 2024 WNBA Draft, needs only 18 points in what will be her final regular-season home game versus Ohio State to break the all-time NCAA overall scoring record, which has been held by LSU legend Pete Maravich since 1970.
Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said Clark is also a special player because of her playmaking ability.
“[Clark]’s an incredible player, very difficult to game plan against because she can score the ball at an elite level, but I think as she’s evolved as a college player now she makes everybody around her as well as anybody I’ve ever seen,” McGuff said.
The Hawkeyes have been led by Clark all season, who leads the nation with 32.2 points per game and 8.7 assists per game. Clark also averages a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game and has 17 games of at least 30 points this season.
Meanwhile, Ohio State is led by Sheldon, sophomore forward Cotie McMahon and graduate guard Celeste Taylor. McMahon finished with a career-high 33 points along with 12 rebounds in the first meeting versus Iowa, and it was the first of four consecutive double-doubles for her.
Sheldon leads the Buckeyes in scoring with 18 points per game and is fourth in the Big Ten in steals per game at 2.1. She finished with 24 points and seven rebounds in the first meeting against Iowa.
Taylor, who was named the ESPN Player of the Week, has turned it up offensively as of late while still maintaining her defensive intensity. In the last three games, Taylor has averaged 16 points, five assists and 4.6 steals per game. Taylor also leads the league with 2.3 steals per game.
McGuff said Taylor is going to be important in Ohio State’s chances to knock off the Hawkeyes for the second time this season.
“I’ve just really been impressed with her, how much time she’s putting into it to make progress and she’s playing at a high level,” McGuff said. “We’re going to need her on both ends of the floor on Sunday for her to be successful.”
One big advantage Iowa has over Ohio State is in the rebounding department, as it averages 41.5 rebounds per game, tied with Nebraska for the best in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Ohio State is only ahead of Northwestern in rebounds per game in the Big Ten at 34.3 rebounds per game.
However, the Buckeyes lead the Big Ten in both scoring defense and forcing turnovers, giving up only 62.1 points per game and forcing 21.6 turnovers per game, respectively. Their defense needs to be at their best to counter Iowa’s explosive offense.
On the other hand, the Hawkeyes have the best scoring offense in the nation, averaging 92.7 points per game, and they have 10 games where they scored at least 100 points. They also boast the second-best field goal percentage in the country, shooting 50.6% from the floor per game.
But Ohio State can also score a lot of points, as it averages 80.4 points per game, which is fifth in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are going to need contributions from both their starters and their bench to extend their winning streak to 16 games.
McGuff said the team is still going to compete at a high level on Sunday, despite already locking up an outright regular-season conference title.
“That’s what we do, I think when you start turning on and turning off how hard you’re gonna try to play then that’s where I think that as a program, you start to run into trouble,” McGuff said. “It’s who we are and what we do and we’re not going to change that.”
The game will be televised on FOX.
