Ohio State women will look to find their missing intensity against Toledo

Saturday, a winter storm covered most of Ohio with snow. Sunday, Ohio State women’s basketball continues a tightly packed nonconference schedule before the Christmas holiday arrives in 11 days. This time, against the Toledo Rockets, who traveled through the snow from three hours north to try and test the Buckeyes.

After a 94-62 blowout victory that needed a 16-point third quarter run to make the Northern Kentucky Norse look easy for the Buckeyes, anything is possible when the MAC side enters the Schottenstein Center. It is a game where the spotlight on slow starts gets brighter, and a pair of backups make a case for a start. That and basketball fans celebrating bricks?

Missing Intensity

Head coach Kevin McGuff expects everything from his players when they step on the court. That is not hyperbole or coach speak. Ohio State’s game plan is built on speed and intensity. More this season than ever, with added quickness on the roster that the Buckeyes have not always had over previous seasons.

The Buckeyes are going with a four-guard starting five, along with a quick freshman forward in Kylee Kitts. On Nov. 30, the Buckeyes played their game from the jump and held the Niagara Purple Eagles to zero points in the first quarter, the only time in Ohio State program history where an opponent scored no points in a period. That ended in a 130-32 rout.

Then, over the last two games, each Buckeye victory started out flat-footed.

Against the Northwestern Wildcats, defenders kept losing forward Grace Sullivan, and the senior scored 14 of NU’s 16 first-quarter points to put the home Big Ten side up 16-10 after 10 minutes. Ohio State recovered, but four days later, the same thing happened against the Norse, a mid-major side that was 3-8 entering the game. Northern Kentucky held a halftime lead over the power conference Buckeyes.

“We did not show up with the focus intensity that we needed to do to kind of impose our will in the game from the start, and they made us pay,” McGuff told reporters.

Toledo enters Sunday 3-4, which includes a loss to the Norse. For all intents and purposes, it is another game destined for an Ohio State victory. The Buckeyes could afford to take a little time off, but if that trend continues into a third game, it can create a habit — a habit that will not help in two weeks when the No. 4 UCLA Bruins come to Columbus.

Starting Ava Watson

After 4:53 of the first quarter, Ohio State shot 2-of-7, and the Norse held a 15-5 lead. So far this season, guard Ava Watson has entered games as the backup point guard for Jaloni Cambridge, a guard who plays 28.3 minutes per game. Watson directed a seven-point comeback against then No. 21 West Virginia with Cambridge on the bench.

In the three games since, Watson’s minutes jumped to 25 per game, and she averages 11.3 points, 5.3 steals, and 4.0 assists. Those minutes are no longer behind Cambridge but next to her, and now, McGuff has a difficult decision brewing with Watson waiting on the bench to hear her name called.

When Watson entered Thursday’s game against Northern Kentucky, the tide shifted. Watson grabbed two of her seven steals on the night and got to the free-throw line and made both shots. The Norse’s offense slowed down and Watson and the Buckeyes held the Horizon League side to seven points over the remaining five minutes of the quarter.

Land-Grant Holy Land asked about the pressure that Watson, and fellow underclassmen guard Bryn Martin, who joined the game one minute after Watson, and also brought calm to the Ohio State defense, to starting guards Chance Gray and T’Yana Todd. When Gray and Todd are on offense, it stretches opposing defenses, although the pair does not bring the same defensive energy to the lineup.

McGuff did not address it.

“That’s going to be another key for us, is to continue to get them [Watson and Martin] quality minutes so we can develop our depth, because we need that when we get to Big Ten play,” said McGuff. “I was pleased with both Ava and Bryn, and I really liked the way they played tonight.”

Watson averages more minutes, points, and steals than either of the seniors, so starting is not the only way to get into a game, but it is an area to watch in upcoming games. If the offense is not clicking, expect Watson’s minutes to continue.

Nike x Lego Night

Watch the Buckeyes’ social media since the start of the 2024-25 season, and the affinity point guard Jaloni Cambridge has for Legos is well known. The Buckeye guard’s fandom of the connecting bricks, along with Ohio State forward Ella Hobbs, gets celebrated with fan giveaways and more. In addition. Fans in attendance get to see Grace Good perform at halftime, a live performer who plays with fire, literally.

Will the Buckeyes play with fire themselves before and after halftime or extinguish the Rockets early? The game tips at 1 p.m. ET on B1G+.