After having their matchup with Northwestern postponed due to COVID-19 concerns, the Buckeyes are rolling once again, despite the absence of sophomore guard Madison Greene.
No. 15 Ohio State (13-3, 9-3) strode to a 100-85 win over Purdue (6-11, 3-11) in confident fashion at the Schottenstein Center Thursday. As Greene was listed as unavailable prior to the home contest, freshman guard Kateri Poole was thrust into the starting role.
Poole said that Greene’s temporary hiatus provided an opportunity to grow as a player and game manager.
“I can never play just like Madison. I want to say I played my game,” Poole said. “I’m a pass-first type of player so I want to get my team involved. I think I did a pretty good job at that. Being able to run a team is really hard, like I mentioned, so knowing that I can do that is a blessing.”
Poole posted 9 points and seven assists with three rebounds in her first career start.
Senior guard Braxtin Miller said that the win showed the team’s perseverance after Sunday’s postponement.
“Again, I just think it shows how tough we are, how much we like each other and how together we are and just how deep of a team we really have,” Miller said.
The Buckeyes tried to keep the Boilermakers off-kilter on offense, varying defensive approaches with early full-court pressure.
The strategy was effective as the Purdue offense sputtered in the second quarter under the duress — producing 13 points in the second frame.
The Boilermaker’s leading scorer, junior Kayana Traylor, scored only 9 points on the day.
Purdue attempted to counter with a full-court press of their own, only to be rattled by the Buckeye offense.
Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said that the approach bridged from film study and was an important in-game alteration.
“They averaged right around 20 turnovers a game or just shy of that, so we did talk about that and we noticed that,” McGuff said. “Part of it was an in-game adjustment just because we weren’t defending well around the basket at all.”
Both teams shot well from beyond the arc, each recording marks near 50 percent.
Ohio State had four players with double-digit scoring tallies.
Junior forward Dorka Juhasz logged her 10th double-double of the season, scoring 23 points with 10 rebounds. This was Juhasz’s 32nd career double-double, the most of any active junior in Division I college basketball.
Outside the scope of the contest, the Buckeyes took to the court for pregame warmups donning Black history month athletic shirts.
The shirts included statements of encouragement for minorities.
McGuff said that the players on his team are making conscious efforts to promote dialogue surrounding the topic of diversity. He said the process began last summer and multiple conversations have been had between his team.
“We have some kids who are very passionate about this topic. They’re very bright and very informed. They really understand this and the importance of it,” McGuff said. “They have a lot of good dialogue and they bring a lot of good dialogue to us about it. It’s been fun to see them kind of grow in this area and express their feelings on this.”
Ohio State looks to keep up the momentum against the No. 11 Michigan Wolverines in a rivalry meeting at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sunday at 2 p.m.
Photos by Mackenzie Shanklin
