The Buckeyes lost to Tennessee Sunday night. The loss was their first of the 2024-2025 season on their home court in Columbus. It adds to the growing reputation of the Ohio State women’s basketball program and head coach Kevin McGuff that the Buckeyes can’t win the big ones in the postseason.
Ohio State had lots of moments that leave anyone who’s watched them throughout this season scratching their head. The Buckeyes' best rebounder and presence in the paint, Ajae Petty, picked up her third foul late in the first half. Coach McGuff rightly pulled her with that foul trouble.
But she was never given a shot again in the second half, even when it would no longer matter if she fouled out. Add in the injury to Elsa Lemmila, and Ohio State was beaten at the rim. They were out-rebounded 39 to 34 and outscored in the paint 44 to 38.
Equally baffling was that the Buckeyes' best three-point shooter, Chance Gray, only attempted one three in the entire game. Ohio State also got crushed by turnovers. They turned the ball over 23 times and Tennessee scored 37 points from them.
Losing the battle at the rim had been a problem against UCLA and USC, and so was the final nail in the Ohio State coffin: production from the bench. Tennessee’s bench outscored Ohio State’s 38 to 13. All of this adds up to their first loss at home since the second round of the tournament last year and an 82-67 defeat.
Ohio State has rightly earned its reputation of not being able to win the big ones. In the 25 seasons of this century, Ohio State has 21 or more wins 19 times. They’ve made the Sweet 16 a modest seven times but have only advanced beyond that twice in 25 years.
They’re consistently at the top in the Big Ten but just as consistently don’t do well in the postseason. Ohio State, from the coaches to the players and to the fans, has been waiting for the breakthrough that changes this. It was thought the upset of UConn two years ago was it.
But things seem to have gotten back to the way they have always been since. We’ll have to wait until 2026 to see if Ohio State can take that next step and conquer this challenge that has stymied them for years.