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The Ohio State women’s basketball team is primed for prime time. The Buckeyes are set to take on No. 12 Maryland Monday night in College Park, Md. in a nationally televised game on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET. This season has been full of ups and downs for the young Ohio State team. They enter Monday night’s matchup 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the Big-Ten.
Preview
Sophomore forward Dorka Juhász leads the Buckeyes in scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game while junior guard Braxtin Miller is second overall in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio, with 49 assists and just 18 turnovers this season.
Maryland comes into Monday’s contest 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference after falling to Northwestern 81-58 last Tuesday. In spite of their most recent loss, Maryland still has five players averaging double-digits in points per game, including senior guard Kaila Charles, who was named Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year and aPreseason AP All-American.
Ohio State’s play has been inconsistent for parts of the year, but they’ve played up to their competition versus every ranked team this season. The Buckeyes kept it close in November against current No. 1 UConn in a 73-62 loss and against then-No. 1 Stanford, 71-52 loss in December.
Top 2️⃣5️⃣ win: ✔️
— Ohio State WBB (@OhioStateWBB) January 1, 2020
Win 4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣:✔️
2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣9️⃣: ✔️
Great team win and a great way to bring in the New Year! #GoBucks #TheBeginning pic.twitter.com/rMNNdw9U78
The Buckeyes are coming off of a 66-63 New Year’s Eve victory at No. 24 Minnesota where head coach Kevin McGuff earned his 400th career win. They also knocked off a strong Louisville team that was ranked No. 2 at the time in early December.
Prediction
Winning on the road is never easy, but the Buckeyes are coming off of a Top-25 road victory against Minnesota. They’ll face a tough Maryland team that has something to prove after their New Year’s Eve loss to Northwestern. In every season since Maryland joined the Big Ten in 2014-15, the conference title has either gone to Maryland or Ohio State. Despite the Buckeyes currently being unranked, their resume so far shows that they don’t need to be ranked to knock off a top team.