The Buckeyes pose for media day photos prior to their season start on Nov. 4 against Cleveland State University at the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
The Buckeyes are ready to open their season against in-state competition.
No. 14 Ohio State will clash with the Cleveland State Vikings 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Schottenstein Center.
The Buckeyes are coming off a 26-6 season record in which they won the Big Ten regular season title.
Despite their regular season performance, the then-No. 2 Buckeyes were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the round of 32 by then-No. 7 Duke.
In the offseason, Ohio State lost multiple veteran presences in guards Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor, as well as forward Rebeka Mikulášiková. But the Buckeyes will retain star forward Cotie McMahon.
“I’ve always been in a leadership position, but never one like this,” McMahon said. “It’s challenging, it’s not easy.”
Chance Gray, a junior guard transfer from Oregon, said she and the rest of her Buckeyes team are ready to put their months of practice on the floor.
“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” Gray said. “Only thing we can do is keep growing and get better every day.”
Ohio State will be close to full strength, but head coach Kevin McGuff said not every Buckeye will be available to start the year.
“Ella Hobbs won’t be available in the beginning of the year; she had an ACL injury in high school,” McGuff said. “Everyone else has been practicing, though.”
Both programs are led by veteran coaches, with McGuff at the helm of Ohio State since 2013, whereas Cleveland State head coach Chris Kielsmeier took over in 2018.
Kielsmeier has been at Cleveland State for six seasons and is now the first coach in program history with multiple 20-win seasons.
“We have some really dangerous games,” McGuff said. “Ball State and Cleveland State, two of the better coached teams in this part of the country.
The Vikings are coming off a 29-6 season, in which they finished first in the Horizon League. However, like the Buckeyes, the Vikings saw an early exit with a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Villanova.
Cleveland State is led by the veteran trio with graduates Colbi Maples and Destiny Lou as well as senior Mickayla Perdue.
Maples, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year, transferred from Horizon League-rival Grambling State after two years and averaged 16.6 points per game last season with the Vikings.
Lou, the 2022-23 Horizon League Player of the Year, suffered a knee injury that wiped out a majority of her senior year, but is now healthy for the Vikings’ season opener.
After Lou went down with her injury last season, Perdue was the Vikings’ leading scorer with 17.3 points per game.
