Big Ten releases women’s basketball conference schedule; Ohio State opens home slate with Michigan State

In June, the Big Ten announced the home and away match-ups for all 14 conference teams. Tuesday, the conference put dates on the games, announcing the full schedule live on “B1G Today.”

The Ohio State Buckeyes women’s basketball team enters the 2022-23 season as the defending regular season co-champions and their conference title defense will begin against Rutgers on the road in New Jersey on Dec. 4.

Throughout the season, the Buckeyes face three conference contenders on and away from their home court. The biggest ones that everyone will have circled on their calendars ae against the Michigan Wolverines. Ohio State welcomes Michigan first on Dec. 31, with the away edition on Feb. 20, 2023.

A team that many thought would win the conference last year was the Maryland Terrapins. Ranked first in coaches and media preseason polls in October 2021, Maryland ended the year in fourth place in the conference. This summer, they’ve lost First Team All-B1G forward Angel Reese and Second Team All-B1G guard Ashley Owusu, but they’re a team that retools, not rebuilds.

The Buckeyes will face the Terrapins first on the road on Feb. 5, and then their final regular season game of the season will be against the Terps on Feb. 25 in Columbus. Ohio State split the two-game series last season, with each side winning at home.

Another favorite who slipped near the end of the season was the Indiana Hoosiers. The Scarlet and Gray faced the Hoosiers twice last year, but only once in the regular season. Ohio State lost the in-season and B1G tournament games against Indiana, but has two chances in the 2022-23 regular season to narrow the competitive gap.

Indiana welcomes Ohio State first on Jan. 26, while the Buckeyes will welcome the Hoosiers to Columbus on Feb. 13.

Arguably the biggest matchup on the schedule is against the team that shared the regular season championship with OSU last season — the Iowa Hawkeyes. Led by Naismith National Player of the Year finalist Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes followed up their regular season co-title with a B1G Tournament Championship this past spring, but fell to Ohio State in a high-scoring game in Iowa City 92-88.

Clark and the Hawkeyes travel to Ohio State for the lone regular season game between the two teams. The two squads play at the Schottenstein Center on Jan. 23.

Ohio State will also welcome Michigan State, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Purdue to Columbus, after playing each of the five sides away from their home campus last season.

Before the Buckeyes tip off against in-conference opponents, they will play a full non-conference schedule that features a number of big match-ups. Ohio State starts the season by welcoming the Tennessee Volunteers on Nov. 8. From there, the Buckeyes travel to Boston College, Louisville, and play in the two-game San Diego Invitational against South Florida and either the Oregon Ducks or Arkansas Razorbacks.

Here’s the full 2022-23 schedule: