The #8 Buckeyes stayed with the #1 Bruins for three quarters. They were within two, down only 44-42, heading into the fourth quarter. But the final period was all UCLA, and Ohio State had no answer at all. The Buckeyes managed only three points in the first 7 minutes of the fourth quarter. UCLA outscored Ohio State 21-10 in the fourth quarter to win 65-52.
Cotie McMahon and Jaloni Cambridge could only carry the team on their shoulders so much. They had 35 (McMahon 14, Cambridge 21) of Ohio State’s 52 points. Elsa Lemmila had eight points off the bench as Ohio State’s third-leading scorer of the five Buckeyes to score.
McMahon and Cambridge are naturally the Buckeyes stars and leaders, but they’ll need more than just three other players to score points for them to sustain their success going forward.
Don’t mistake this as a knock on the Buckeyes. UCLA has just been that much of a buzzsaw this season. They’ve clobbered every team they’ve played. It’s why they are 22-0 and the unanimous #1 team in basketball this year. Their 22-game winning streak is the longest in UCLA history. Thankfully, Ohio State won’t see UCLA again until the postseason.
But the Buckeyes must recover quickly as they stay on the West Coast. They’ll stay in SoCal to battle USC and JuJu Watkins on Saturday night. The Trojans and the Buckeyes have the same record of 20-2. While Watkins is the best player in college basketball, if Ohio State can play as they did in the first three quarters of the game against UCLA, they have a very good chance of being 1-1 in L.A. against two teams ranked in the top ten.
USC is the last currently ranked program they’ll have a chance to beat until the last two games of the season against Michigan State and Maryland. Ohio State is a great team, and Saturday will be another chance to prove it!