Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. ET, No. 9 Ohio State women’s basketball face the No. 24 Washington Huskies on their home court for the first time in eight years.
It starts a two-game away trip for the Buckeyes in the Pacific Northwest where the Huskies and Oregon Ducks await head coach Kevin McGuff’s side, who sit in fourth place in the Big Ten standings with seven matches left in the regular season.
A ranked win for Ohio State to start the trip gives the Buckeyes a second-straight Quad 1 win for NET rankings and strengthen their chances for a higher seed in the Big Ten Tournament. In the Scarlet and Gray’s way is a trio of guards who already showed their ability to upset sides who make the trip to the Cascadia region.
What is a distinct advantage the Buckeyes have over the Huskies, and what does Washington do well that puts Ohio State on upset alert?
The Huskies’ trio
At the start of Washington’s 2022-23 season, head coach Tina Langley’s side started the season 11-o. In her third year running the then-Pac-12 side, the Huskies improved from the start of their previous season but hit a snag once power schools came into the picture.
Washington went 4-16 through the end of the season, but Langley put together a group of players who now have the Huskies ranked this season for the first time since Dec. 18, 2023.
For the final nine games of that 23-24 campaign, Washington started guards Elle Ladine, Sayvia Sellers and Hannah Stines. The three started 47 games together from the start of the 23-24 season and the trio now lead the Huskies.
Headlining the trio is the junior Sellers. The Alaska native enters Thursday night’s game as the USBWA National Player of the Week after Sellers averaged 17.5 points, 5.3 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
The performance that stood out above them all, and also the guard’s best game of the entire season, came on Jan. 28 in College Park, Maryland. That is where Sellers led the Huskies with 38 points, 6 assists and 2 blocks in an 83-80 double overtime victory over the Maryland Terrapins.
Sellers’ career high 19.1 points per game leads the Huskies this season, but the junior is not all shooting. The guard also distributes and finds open teammates with 3.6 assists per game, another team high. Behind Sellers in assists is Stines with 2.5 per game who does not score a lot of points for Langley’s side but holds onto the ball well and brings calm on the court, something the Huskies will need against an Ohio State team that prides itself on hurrying opponents up.
Even if the numbers do not show it, Stines can have big games, like last year against the Buckeyes in Columbus. Sellers and Ladine combined for only nine points against Ohio State but Stines scored 17 points in the 66-56 victory for the Scarlet and Gray.
Last season, Ladine was the Sellers of Washington. The guard led the team with 17 points per game and added 2.4 assists on her way to an All-Big Ten selection, the first conference team honor in the then junior’s NCAA career.
This season, an undisclosed injury changed Ladine’s trajectory and the senior missed six games for Washington and scored only 10.1 points per game, the guard’s lowest average since she joined the starting lineup in her sophomore season.
There is no official word on the cause of Ladine’s injury but the senior’s minutes are down two less per game. Ladine averaged 7.5 points per game in the last five games for Washington.
Avery Howell
Normally, a less effective Ladine means trouble for the Huskies, but not after Langley’s work in the transfer portal in the offseason. The Washington coach picked up two in-conference players to strengthen her side and one of them is guard Avery Howell, a player who can do it all for the Huskies.
Last season, Howell was a freshman for head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s USC Trojans. Behind guard JuJu Watkins and Kennedy Smith, Howell appeared in 35 games and started slowly but showed a glimpse into her future in the NCAA Tournament.
Howell had 12.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in four March Madness games. The guard doubled her productivity from the regular season and Big Ten Tournament, only to go into the transfer portal and head closer to her home state of Idaho.
This season, Howell has five double-doubles for Washington and nearly averages a double-double with 13.3 points and 8.1 rebounds. For most players, those averages are padded in the nonconference schedule, but not Howell.
Since the start of Big Ten play, Howell 14.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. As the year went on, the sophomore became scrappier for the Huskies.
At only 6-feet tall, Howell gets rebounds because she gets into the fold and does not back down to opponents. Washington is not a big team, with two players with regular minutes who stand at least 6-foot-3. The Huskies play a four-guard lineup like Ohio State is likely to play if forward Kylee Kitts misses a fifth consecutive game with a shoulder injury.
That is not all Howell is good for on the floor. The sophomore makes as many shots from beyond the arc as Sellers too. If Ohio State’s defense does not close down shooters, which happens frequently for the Buckeyes, Howell and Sellers can hit shots from deep with regularity. Oh yeah, Howell can also attack inside using her larger size compared to most guards.
Forcing turnovers
Washington has four Big Ten games this season where the Huskies gave the ball away at least 15 times, and they lost all but one. The Huskies’ lone victory came against the Michigan Wolverines who had a 33.3% shooting day from the floor, 21.4% from beyond the arc and 52.9% from the free throw line. Washington beat the Wolverines 64-52 for the team’s first marquee victory of the season.
The other three losses came against the Michigan State Spartans, a shocking overtime upset by the Purdue Boilermakers and on Sunday against the Illinois Fighting Illini.
In conference play, the lone game where the Buckeyes did not force more than 15 turnovers was the 19-point lopsided defeat to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Jan. 25. Ohio State forces 20.6 turnovers on average in Big Ten play.
Even though the Buckeyes miss the interior presence of Kitts next to center Elsa Lemmilä, the addition of sophomore guard Ava Watson to the starting lineup gives McGuff’s side three defenders who are capable of annoying opponents alongside Jaloni Cambridge and Kennedy Cambridge.
Iowa and Washington are not similar sides because the Huskies do not have the same size advantage on offense inside compared to the Hawkeyes. In an even size matchup on two teams who employ four guards, Ohio State has an advantage over Washington.
It is not all steals and swapping possession in the press. Half court defense needs to anticipate the trio of offensive-minded guards in Sellers, Howell and Ladine. Washington brings a unique attacking group compared to teams like the Indiana Hoosiers and Nebraska Cornhuskers.
However, the Buckeyes were able to slow down Cornhusker point guard Britt Prince on Sunday and it was forward Amiah Hargrove who hurt Ohio State inside. Should the Buckeyes play similar defense, the Husky interior could have a big game but not enough to upset the Buckeyes.
Returning to Seattle
Ohio State’s last trip to Seattle came in March of 2023 for the Sweet Sixteen. The Buckeyes pulled off the upset over Azzi Fudd and the UConn Huskies but went on to fall in the next round against the Virginia Tech Hokies.
No Buckeyes on the roster this season were on that team and this time the stakes are much lower than a win or go home March Madness tournament bracket.
This game is only the second time that McGuff will coach against his previous employer on their home court. On Dec. 5, 2018, the Buckeyes lost 69-59 to the Huskies, the season after Ohio State legend Kelsey Mitchell left college for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.
