Ohio State played its third game against a 2014 Final Four team Wednesday night – and it lost for the third time. The Buckeyes fell to No. 3 Notre Dame, 75-72, as Kelsey Mitchell's would-be game tying three-pointer clanged off the rim as time expired.
According to Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff, the game came down to two things: "second-chance points and points off turnovers."
The Buckeyes turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 19 Irish points. They were also out-rebounded 34 to 45 despite playing an injury-depleted and rather under-size Notre Dame team.
Defensively, however, the Scarlet and Gray looked much improved from the start of the season. The Buckeyes held Notre Dame to just 38 percent from the field and forced a third-quarter cold streak when the Irish connected on just 1-of-14 shot attempts.
Another bright spot for the Buckeyes was Shayla Cooper. The junior forward had a dominating performance, notching her second double-double of the season before the game even reached halftime. She finished with 18 points and nearly half of the team's total rebounds with 15.
"(Cooper) was a warrior on the glass, and we needed because they're a great rebounding team," said McGuff. "Overall I thought this was probably her best game."
The loss means Ohio State is now just 1-3 against ranked opponents on the season – all three losses came against last year's Final Four teams. The results aren't what the team hoped for, but the Buckeye head coach knows championships aren't won in November.
"I think obviously we've learned some things about ourselves," said McGuff on the difficult stretch. "I thought we played really hard and competed; when you don't win it's tough. But we have to make sure we take inventory of where we are and get better."
After playing over half their games against top-10 teams to start the season, the Buckeyes get a bit of a respite as they face four consecutive unranked opponents starting with Cincinnati, Sunday.
