Ohio State senior guard Braxtin Miller (10) takes a shot at the hoop during the Ohio State-Indiana game on Feb. 27. Ohio State lost 75-87. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
After a season filled with highs and lows, the Buckeyes failed to top a defensive juggernaut in their season finale.
No. 22 Ohio State (13-7, 9-7) was defeated by No. 24 Rutgers (14-3, 9-3) 63-71 Friday at the Rutgers Athletic Center after two Scarlet Knights earned double-doubles.
Despite ending the season on a four-game losing streak, Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said this team played at a high level and could have taken on anyone for a chance to win.
“We had some incredible moments, we had stretches where we played extremely well, we showed how good we can be,” McGuff said. “ Overall, I think our kids handled a lot of adversity this year.”
The Buckeyes were shut down early in the first quarter as the Scarlet Knights forced an early string of turnovers that they turned into points, allowing Rutgers to go on a 13-2 run in the last six minutes of the quarter.
Ohio State senior guard Braxtin Miller led the way offensively, scoring 19 points while collecting eight rebounds and four assists.
Miller said the Buckeyes were unable to slow Rutgers in certain stretches of the contest.
“Basketball is a game of runs; if you can’t handle the run then you’re not going to get very far. It’s mental,” Miller said. “You need to prepare for those things, especially against a good team like Rutgers. I think we knew that just come out play hard, get our rotations right and get on defense and push it at them and I think that was shown.”
The suffocating defense from the Scarlet Knights held the Buckeyes to 27 percent from the field in the opening half. .
After the half, the Buckeyes were determined to come back strong but still remained behind due to a highly efficient quarter from Rutgers redshirt senior guard Arella Guirantes — scoring 11 of her 20 points in the frame.
Guirantes added 10 rebounds and four assists to her performance.
The Buckeyes were able to end the game scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to become the first team to score more than 60 points on the Knights since Feb 7.
The Buckeyes ultimately fell short after a career night from redshirt sophomore forward Tyia Singleton, who finished with a career-high 18 points on 8-of-9 from the field to go along with 13 rebounds and six blocks.
This was the last game of the Buckeyes’ season, and McGuff said he’s looking forward to the offseason. He said he knows they have plenty to work on to remain successful.
“We had incredible stretches this year where we played extremely well, and we’ve got to focus on ways to make sure we can consistently be that team and keep the high points kinda going further, and we just had some slippage in some areas late in the year that we gotta make sure we kind of assess and make sure we don’t do that next year because we’ve shown how good we can be, it’s just being that team more consistently I think is one of the big keys,” McGuff said.
