Duke coach conducts master class in upset of Buckeyes
The Ohio State women's basketball season ended with a 28-point swing – a blown 16-point lead and a 12-point loss – in the Buckeyes' own gym. A crowd of 8,333 (a full lower bowl) paid witness at Value City Arena on Sunday. Ohio State lost to Duke 75-63.
Ohio State, a No. 2 seed, was taken out by a No. 7 seed. One should give credit where it is due, to Duke coach Kara Lawson, to her cold-blooded shooting guard, Reigan Richardson, and to the rest of the Blue Devils. Lawson goes eight or nine deep, and among those pulling heavier minutes are two freshmen and two sophomores.
Lawson had a much better day at the whiteboard than did her counterpart, Ohio State's Kevin Mcguff. Duke (22-11) moves on to play either Connecticut or Syracuse in a Sweet 16 game in Portland next weekend. Ohio State (26-6), which beat Uconn to make it to the Elite Eight last year, now must wait until next year.
This is a hand-me-a-hankie disappointment for a Buckeyes team that had aspirations. They beat Iowa at Value City Arena in January. They were ranked No. 2 in the country as recently as the third week of February. They finished with three losses in the last four games – at Iowa (not a shocker), against unranked Maryland (a shocker) in the quarters of the Big Ten Tournament and against unranked Duke on Sunday. They got schemed.
“March is nothing to play with,” said sophomore forward Cotie Mcmahon, who led Ohio State with 27 points. “You're one and done. So it's either you take it serious or you're going home. You give it your all or you're going home.
“I feel like we're leaving here with a lot of regrets, and that's not what we wanted to do. So I feel like my biggest takeaway in moving forward, especially going into March in the future, would just be to emphasize what we practice, do what we do and play the game that we play and leave it all out there. That's really all I can say.”
The Buckeyes did what they do best in the opening 15 minutes against Duke. They pushed the tempo, attacked the basket and pressed. The Buckeyes had a
30-14 lead with 5:07 remaining in the first half. Unfortunately, there were 25-plus minutes remaining.
“Early in the year ... we had so many games that we lost like this,” Lawson said. “We would be honest with ourselves about it. Because I think when you experience failure, you have two options. You can either tell yourself the truth or you can lie to yourself. We want to tell the truth to ourselves and say, hey, we fell short here. Here's where we need to be better. And then my job as a coach is to show them and teach them how to get better.
“And so this is why you coach, man, I mean, to see that growth. And now on a bright stage, to be able to see them overcome something that we struggled with during the year, it's really, really satisfying.”
Duke got jumped by Richmond, a No. 10 seed, in their first-round game Saturday. Duke won by 11.
Duke got jumped by Ohio State on Sunday. Duke, down by 16 with 25 minutes remaining, didn't reinvent themselves. The Blue Devils minded Ohio State's 3-point shooting. They dribbled OSU'S best defender – Celeste Taylor, a Duke transfer – into difficult positions. Lawson rotated her bigs, including freshman Delaney Thomas, and cut down on rim access. They dealt with the press and pounded the ball to the post.
Duke allowed just one made 3 in the game, with 12.2 seconds remaining. Taylor ran into foul trouble and ultimately fouled out. So did center Rebeka Mikulasikova and guard Taylor Thierry. Richardson, the best player on the floor, entered a Sheryl Swoopes zone. She had 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting in the second half and finished with a game-high 28. The low block also tilted: Duke wound up with a 38-20 advantage on the boards.
Duke outscored Ohio State 61-33 over the last 25 minutes.
Mcguff had no answers. “When the season ends, it really only ends the right way for one team, but you do want to walk out of the locker room on that last game like, man, we played great, we gave it our all, they were just a little bit better,” Mcguff said. “We can't really say that. Duke deserved to win the game. They played significantly better than we did. I just wish we'd have put our best foot forward and we didn't.”
That's something to say in January, maybe, but not in March.