Ohio State junior guard Chance Gray (21) crosses over while being guarded Trojans sophomore guard JuJu Watkins during the No. 8 Buckeyes 84-63 loss to No. 7 USC. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
In the second game of a two-game road trip to Los Angeles, Ohio State needed to bounce back from its loss to No. 1 UCLA Wednesday.
They got a crack against another top-10 team in USC led by the Big Ten’s leading offense and scorer in JuJu Watkins.
Ohio State scored a season-low 52 points in their last matchup and needed to fix its shooting woes in order to knock off a quality team on the road.
No. 8 Ohio State (20-3, 9-3 Big Ten) couldn’t establish a rhythm and struggled offensively again as it fell to No. 7 USC (21-2, 11-1 Big Ten) 84-63 in the Galen Center Saturday night.
Early on, the Buckeyes defensive pressure bothered USC as they forced three turnovers in the first minute of the game. Ohio State jumped out to a 7-2 lead and held USC from making a shot for more than five minutes to open the game.
However, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer, forward Cotie McMahon, picked up two fouls in the first four and a half minutes, which forced her to head to the bench for the rest of the quarter.
USC ended the first on a 12-4 run and led 14-11 heading to the second. This marked the fifth straight game that the Buckeyes trailed after the first quarter.
The Trojans found their success at the free throw line in the first half, attempting 14 from the charity strip, compared to Ohio State’s three free throws. This helped the Trojans earn a 34-26 advantage headed into the break.
The bright spot of Ohio State’s first half was forward Taylor Thierry, who forced USC All-American guard JuJu Watkins to miss her first eight shots from the field and held her scoreless for the first 14 and a half minutes of the game. Watkins had four points at the half, all coming from free throws.
The Trojans opened the second half on fire from the field as they connected on five of their first six shots. Comparatively, the Buckeyes only made one of their first seven shots, which allowed USC to jump out to a 13-point lead, its largest of the game with just over six minutes remaining in the quarter.
In an attempt to halt the Trojans’ momentum, Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff took a timeout.
The Buckeyes came out of the brief pause with a big response as they went on a 13-5 run, capped by a 3-pointer from guard Chance Gray, to cut their deficit to seven. Trojans lead to seven points, capped by a Gray 3-pointer.
With momentum with Ohio State, Watkins halted the Buckeyes’ run with an and-one, her first made field goal of the game, which extended the Trojans’ lead to double digits. The three-point play was part of USC’s 9-2 run to end the third quarter as it led 59-45.
In the fourth, another and-one prevented the hopes of a Buckeye comeback as Trojans’ forward Kennedy Smith gave USC the largest lead of the game at 17 with seven minutes to play.
The late run was simply too much for the Buckeyes, as USC closed out the game 84-63.
Despite the loss, Thierry proved vital on both ends of the floor, leading the team offensively with 14 points and defensively with five steals.
The Buckeyes scored 18 points off 23 USC turnovers, but it was outweighed by Ohio State’s 29.4% shooting percentage from the field.
The Buckeyes only made only two 3-pointers and were out-rebounded 62-30 by the Trojans.
Ohio State will have four days to regroup from its trip to California before it takes on Minnesota in the Schottenstein Center Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Peacock.
