Preview:
No 11/9 Ohio State comes to play us at the Chase Center Friday at 5:30. Ohio State is 10-0, 7th by Massey's ratings (we are continuing our decline to 20 so far.) Ohio State is only 11th because their schedule so far has been weak--weaker than ours. Their best win was vs. No. 43 Illinois. Their RPI is 15, ours is 37. Last year Ohio State was 26-6 but lost early in the Big 10 tournament to Maryland and in the 2nd round in the NCAAs to Duke.
Ohio State is coached by Kevin McGuff. McGuff will remember a certain Stanford assistant coach very well, given her 4.4 second buzzer beater against his Xavier team in 2010. Since then we have faced McGuff many times when he was at Washington and again since he settled in at Ohio State.
This year Ohio State is led by 5 players in double digits. Again, a team that defies doubling any of their players.
6'0" junior Cotie McMahon has been a consistent 15-20 mid range point scorer all three of her years, but this year she has upped her three point shooting to 39%. She averages 19 ppg.
5'9" junior Chance Grey just transferred in from Oregon and is 2nd at Ohio State at 17ppg. She has already made 35 treys at 45%--more in fact than she has made regular field goals. At least we know her well.
5'7" freshman Jaloni Cambridge is their third leading scorer at 14 ppg. She shoots the three at 28%, so she is probably more of a slasher. She has 40 assists to 20 turnovers and appears to be the point guard, as a freshman.
6'3" grad student Ajai Petty is on her third school after playing for two years at LSU and two at Kentucky. At Kentucky she started every game her senior year and averaged a double double, at 14 ppg and 10 rpg. So far at Ohio State she is averaging 12 points, 8 rebounds, and is shooting 62%.
6'1" senior Thierry Taylor rounds out the starting five. She has played all four years at OSU, is averaging 11 ppg. She makes 58% of her shots which are mostly from inside, but is also 9/18 from beyond the arc.
Ohio state is deep. It has half a dozen other players averaging double digit minutes, including one at 20. While they start 4 players with experience, only two of the starters were on the team last year.
Ohio State looks on paper to be a quality team from top to bottom with no obvious weaknesses. I do not think we have anyone who can adequately defend Ajai Petty one-on-one, and doubling her will lead to opportunities for their excellent three point shooters. Guarding Chance Grey will also be important--that was probably Lepolo's job last year. Perhaps there is a role for Shay to guard the Ohio State freshman point guard.
Ohio State is averaging a whopping 87 points per game, and our defense has not been our strength this year, so if we want to win we will either have to defend them differently than anyone else has, or we will simply have to get very hot on offense. That seems difficult. Agara will probably be defended by someone taller and just as athletic as she is. We might need 18 treys to have a chance.
No 11/9 Ohio State comes to play us at the Chase Center Friday at 5:30. Ohio State is 10-0, 7th by Massey's ratings (we are continuing our decline to 20 so far.) Ohio State is only 11th because their schedule so far has been weak--weaker than ours. Their best win was vs. No. 43 Illinois. Their RPI is 15, ours is 37. Last year Ohio State was 26-6 but lost early in the Big 10 tournament to Maryland and in the 2nd round in the NCAAs to Duke.
Ohio State is coached by Kevin McGuff. McGuff will remember a certain Stanford assistant coach very well, given her 4.4 second buzzer beater against his Xavier team in 2010. Since then we have faced McGuff many times when he was at Washington and again since he settled in at Ohio State.
This year Ohio State is led by 5 players in double digits. Again, a team that defies doubling any of their players.
6'0" junior Cotie McMahon has been a consistent 15-20 mid range point scorer all three of her years, but this year she has upped her three point shooting to 39%. She averages 19 ppg.
5'9" junior Chance Grey just transferred in from Oregon and is 2nd at Ohio State at 17ppg. She has already made 35 treys at 45%--more in fact than she has made regular field goals. At least we know her well.
5'7" freshman Jaloni Cambridge is their third leading scorer at 14 ppg. She shoots the three at 28%, so she is probably more of a slasher. She has 40 assists to 20 turnovers and appears to be the point guard, as a freshman.
6'3" grad student Ajai Petty is on her third school after playing for two years at LSU and two at Kentucky. At Kentucky she started every game her senior year and averaged a double double, at 14 ppg and 10 rpg. So far at Ohio State she is averaging 12 points, 8 rebounds, and is shooting 62%.
6'1" senior Thierry Taylor rounds out the starting five. She has played all four years at OSU, is averaging 11 ppg. She makes 58% of her shots which are mostly from inside, but is also 9/18 from beyond the arc.
Ohio state is deep. It has half a dozen other players averaging double digit minutes, including one at 20. While they start 4 players with experience, only two of the starters were on the team last year.
Ohio State looks on paper to be a quality team from top to bottom with no obvious weaknesses. I do not think we have anyone who can adequately defend Ajai Petty one-on-one, and doubling her will lead to opportunities for their excellent three point shooters. Guarding Chance Grey will also be important--that was probably Lepolo's job last year. Perhaps there is a role for Shay to guard the Ohio State freshman point guard.
Ohio State is averaging a whopping 87 points per game, and our defense has not been our strength this year, so if we want to win we will either have to defend them differently than anyone else has, or we will simply have to get very hot on offense. That seems difficult. Agara will probably be defended by someone taller and just as athletic as she is. We might need 18 treys to have a chance.