Nebraska WBB vs Ohio State Preview & Opponent Q&A

Fresh off a win over the #2 team in the country (Iowa), the Huskers get to face the team that replaced them in the polls. The Buckeyes are a talented and experienced squad who will be enjoying home court advantage.

Can lightning strike twice for the Huskers?

Nebraska Cornhuskers (16-8, 8-5 Big Ten) at 2/2 Ohio State Buckeyes (21-3, 12-1 Big Ten)

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, 6 p.m. (CT)

Value City Arena - Columbus, Ohio

TV/Stream: Peacock (Sloane Martin, Kim Adams)

Live Radio: Huskers Radio Network (5:30 p.m.) Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst) B107.3 FM (Lincoln), 590 AM (Omaha), Huskers.com, Huskers App

Live Stats: Huskers.com

Opponent Q&A

Thanks to Thomas Costello from Land Grant Holy Land who stopped by to offer some insights on the Buckeyes WBB team.

Now that the Buckeyes have claimed the dreaded #2 spot in national rankings from Iowa (you’re welcome), what do they have to do to avoid the big losses that have plagued other teams in that ranking this season?

The three previous teams who earned the No. 2 ranking ran into their own special speedbumps, like UCLA Bruins center Lauren Betts coming down with an injury, the double-loss for Kansas State and whatever it was that happened to the Iowa Hawkeyes in Lincoln.

Ohio State has two reasons they can avoid a similar fate. First, they’ve been here before. Last season, after starting the season 19-0, the Buckeyes sat behind the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks and despite what the team said about not caring about the ranking, it looked like it had an impact. After the scarlet and gray lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes, it all came a bit unraveled, losing three in a row. The Buckeyes are an experienced side and are now a team built on defense, and not only their havoc-inducing full court press.

Continuous improvement is the other reason. After a difficult December where the Buckeyes fell to the Bruins and Michigan Wolverines, the 2024 edition of Ohio State looks more cohesive in each game. Against the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday, three starters sat for more than half of the second quarter due to the team picking up three fouls apiece. Including guard Jacy Sheldon and forward Cotie McMahon and Taylor Thierry. In that quarter, the Buckeyes outscored the home team by 18 points. The team is tested.

Jacy Sheldon paces the Buckeyes but it looks like there is plenty of offensive firepower if Nebraska focuses on her too much. What would be your defensive game plan if you were Amy Williams?

After two seasons of mostly one-dimensional basketball, where the three-point shot was the catalyst for a lot of the offensive workload, it’s hard to pinpoint one thing to do defensively to stop the Buckeyes.

This late in the season, Ohio State’s faced all kinds of defenses. However, the one teams try to employ the most is the zone, with heavy emphasis on protecting the paint. At first it worked because the Buckeyes are not a fantastic three-point shooting team. Defenses blocked the paint from forward Cotie McMahon’s intense runs to the rim and dared the outside shooters to try from distance.

If you look at the box score from Sunday against Sparty, the 57.1% from beyond the arc performance doesn’t look like a struggle but it was an outlier. Before then it was sitting at 33.8%.

Unfortunately for Ohio State opponents, the Buckeyes’ offense learned how to play through the zone, thanks to the play of McMahon and forward Rebeka Mikulášiková. Now, when those two are making moves towards the paint, they’re finding open teammates making accompanying runs behind the defense. In the last five games, McMahon and Mikulášiková average 4.6 and 3.2 assists, respectively. That’s for two players who average 2.3 and 1.3 assists in their NCAA careers.

Nebraska has been inconsistent shooting from long range but can generally lean on their game in the paint with Markowski and Potts. Does this play into or against Ohio State’s strengths?

The play of Markowski and Potts is honestly another way to play good defense against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State’s offense feeds off its defensive abilities. Whether it’s a turnover in the full court press or an increasing effective halfcourt defense. An area where the team’s struggled in the past few seasons is in the paint against strong post players, to which Nebraska now has two.

It’s been pretty much guaranteed that a strong opposing big would at least have a double-double against the Buckeyes. This season alone, Betts had a 17-point, 11-rebound, double-double. In the Big Ten, Illinois Fighting Illini forward Kendall Bostic and Wisconsin Badgers 6-foot-4 forward Serah Williams each commanded their respective game for spells.

Lately though, even that’s improving. Indiana Hoosiers forward Mackenzie Holmes was held to no rebounds, no points and three turnovers in the third quarter against Ohio State, in an Indiana defeat. Against a Minnesota team with two bigs in the paint, the Buckeyes actually outrebounded the Golden Gophers, which no one could have guessed happening at the start of the season.

Nebraska will have a good shot at challenging the scarlet and gray if they can establish the Markowski/Potts partnership early and often, and force the Buckeyes offense to play from behind. Also, the Cornhuskers have to do the same thing to start the second half, because the Buckeyes are notoriously the most dangerous, defensively, after half time.

Over the past four games, head coach Kevin McGuff’s side outscored opponents 110-44.