The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team remained on a roll after upsetting #10 Ohio State 74-61 at Williams Arena on Wednesday night. The Gophers have now won nine games in a row—their second longest Big Ten winning streak in program history only behind the eleven in a row the 2003-04 team won en route to the Final Four that season. It was Minnesota’s first win over the Buckeyes since 2016 and puts them currently alone in 4th place in the Big Ten standings with just two games remaining in the regular season.
The Gophers got off to a bit of a slow start against the Buckeyes before dominating the final 25 minutes of the game. The Gophers took a 14-11 lead but then allowed the Buckeyes to close out the first quarter and the start of the second quarter on a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 23-14 with 7:48 to play in the second quarter. The nine point lead would be the biggest the Buckeyes had the rest of the way as Minnesota began chipping back slowly across the rest of the second quarter. A quick 6-0 run cut the Buckeye lead to three at 23-20, and the teams traded baskets the rest of the way allowing for Ohio State to take a three-point lead into halftime 29-26.
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Minnesota needed to find their offense at halftime. The Gophers only trailed by three and shot an abysmal 27.5% in the first half including just 2-0 from beyond the arc. Ohio State was successful from three shooting 45% , but Minnesota had limited the damage. The game was in their hands if they could execute.
And execute they did in the third quarter. Minnesota dominated the Buckeyes in the period starting on a 9-0 run. Ohio State tried to limit the damage, but the Gophers kept coming and coming and would outscore the Buckeyes 27-13 in the quarter to take a 53-42 edge into the final ten minutes. The Gophers found their shot shooting 66.6% from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc in the quarter.
That trend would continue in the fourth quarter. The Gophers jumped out with a 7-2 run again and stretched their lead to sixteen points at 60-44. Minnesota slowed down some committing a few bad turnovers and missing some easy shots allowing OSU to get back in the game. The Gophers weathered some Buckeye runs and answered with huge shots of their own. After Ohio State got the lead down to seven with 3:38 to play it was Mara Braun with a huge three to push the lead back to ten. One last Buckeye push cut the Gopher lead to six with 2:08 to play, but the Gophers stars were not going to let this one slip away. After Amaya Battle had her shot blocked she grabbed the rebound and called timeout with just 3.8 left on the shot clock. The Gophers worked up a perfect play out of the timeout and found Braun for a wide open jumper to go up eight. The Buckeyes came down and missed a jumper with some great defense by Tori McKinney. Battle picked up the rebound and the Gophers showcases some great ball movement skipping it across court to McKinney who drove and got stopped and fed Sophie Hart in the high post who found a wide open Grace Grocholski at the top of the key who drained the dagger three to lock up the game.
A pair of missed Buckeye shots and a pair of Braun free throws later, the celebration was on after the massive upset victory.
Minnesota’s stars came out to play in the game. Hart and Battle each finished with double-doubles. Hart scored 18 points and added 10 rebounds, five of which were offensive. Battle finished with 13 points and a team high 12 rebounds. She also added five assists, and with her pass to Brun for a three-pointer in the third quarter passed Lindsay Whalen for #2 in the all-time Gopher assist list.
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Braun added 18 points to lead the way along with Hart, and Grocholski added 12 and McKinney nine. In our three keys preview post we said that the Gophers needed to do three things. First keep Buckeye star Jaloni Cambridge in check. Cambridge did score 23 points, but on a very inefficient 10-27 from the field. McKinney played magnificent defense on the Buckeye star and limited her influence on the game.
Secondly the Gophers needed to deal with the Buckeye full court press. They did then mostly successfully as well. OSU got a couple of steals on their full court pressure, but Minnesota only committed nine turnovers—two less than their average and 12 less that the Buckeyes opponents were averaging this season. The Gophers actually flipped the script forcing 11 OSU turnovers, and more importantly scoring 17 points off of those turnovers compared to just 10 for the Buckeyes.
Thirdly the Gophers needed to rule the boards and get second chance opportunities. They absolutely dominated this aspect of the game. Minnesota outrebounded Ohio State 47-32 and recorded 15 offensive rebounds compared to the Buckeyes seven. Minnesota scored 17 second chance points compared to six from OSU—that’s your winning margin right there. The Gophers dominated the paint again outscoring OSU 32-16. That’s how Minnesota wins.
With the win the Gophers now sit in fourth place in the Big Ten standings at 12-4. They have just two regular season games remaining—hosting #18 Michigan State on Senior Day at The Barn on Sunday and then finishing out at Illinois on Sunday March 1st. Ohio State sists in 5th place at 11-4, but the Gophers will own the tiebreak over the Buckeyes for fourth place. Iowa sits ahead of Minnesota at 11-3, but again the Gophers would own the tiebreak with the Hawkeyes. Iowa finishes the regular season at Purdue, and home against Michigan and Illinois. The third seed in the Big Ten Tournament is in reach if the Gophers can close out with a pair of wins to stretch their winning streak to 11—which would tie the all time Big Ten winning streak the 2003-04 and 2004-25 teams achieved.
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The win also moved Minnesota up to #8 in the NET rankings which help decide the NCAA field. Minnesota is a lock to make the field at this point, but is still jockeying for seeding. Prior to the Buckeye game the Gophers were looking at either a five or six seed, but if Minnesota can win out, a four seed is very much a possibility. Why is a four seed so huge? If the Gophers can earn a four seed they would host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Williams Arena. A huge advantage for this team as they head into March Madness.
The next step is adding one more home ranked win. #18 Michigan State comes to the Barn on Sunday for Senior Day where the Gophers will honor Hart, Battle, Finau Tonga, Brylee Glen and Tracy Bershers. Hopefully they can close out the regular season in successful fashion and make sure those five ladies get at least one more home game.
