Ohio State women’s basketball team loses big to Maryland

The Ohio State women’s basketball team came into the Big Ten Tournament as the number-one seed. Because of that, they got a double bye. Friday was the first game they had played since Sunday’s loss to Iowa. It’s clear they didn’t shake that loss based on the effort that they showed against 8th-seeded Maryland.

Ohio State clearly thought they could just overwhelm Maryland with their talent. They didn’t think their full effort was required. That was not the case as the Buckeyes got waxed by the Terps, falling 82-61. It’s the most disappointing loss the Buckeyes have had all year and by far their biggest losing margin as well.

Ohio State women’s basketball team gets crushed on the boards in loss to Maryland

The biggest reason why the Buckeyes lost to Maryland is because of their terrible rebounding. The Terps were +24 on the boards. Ohio State allowed 21 (!!!) offensive rebounds. It’s not like Ohio State is small by any means. That kind of rebounding margin is not acceptable, especially against a team like Maryland.

Cotie McMahon had a nightmare game. She was just 3-17 for 12 points and shot just 6-11 from the free-throw line. Her failure to finish around the rim really hurt the Buckeyes and stagnated their half-court offense. Ohio State didn’t really go full-bore with the press either for some reason so they couldn’t get points in transition.

This is the kind of loss that could knock them out of a number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament. They were expected to at least make the finals of the Big Ten Tourney. Now, they will be sitting at home until Selection Sunday. Kevin McGuff deserves some blame for this loss too. He clearly didn’t get his team ready to play.

A blowout loss right before the NCAA Tournament is not ideal. Hopefully, this is a wake-up call for these ladies and they can get their act together before the first game of March Madness. This was not what they were expecting to happen.