There's no way around it – Saturday's Big Ten Tournament loss to Purdue was huge.
The loss cost top-seeded Ohio State a chance to play for its first Big Ten Tournament title since 2009-10 and ended the Buckeyes' 12-game winning streak.
More than that, it was detrimental to Ohio State's NCAA Tournament run. With a strong showing in the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes could have locked up a high No. 4 seed or a low No. 3 seed. After the loss to Purdue, the Buckeyes are likely looking at either the lowest No. 4 seed and a Sweet 16 matchup with No. 1 UConn, or a No. 5 seed, having to play the first two rounds on the road instead of at home.
But perhaps even more demoralizing than what was lost was how it was lost. Purdue held the nation's third-highest-scoring offense to a season-low 60 points and Kelsey Mitchell, one of the nation's most prolific scorers, to single digits for just the second time in her career.
The loss was dejecting and disastrous for the Buckeyes, but they can't dwell on it – it's bounce-back time.
"This is going to tell us a lot about our team," Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff said after the game. "We're either going to learn from this and take some things here and make sure we're a better team the next time we play or you can sit around and pout about it and not get better."
The Buckeyes have three weeks until they open NCAA Tournament play, and will do everything possible to ensure there is no repeat performance from what they did Saturday.
For starters, Ohio State will get its top post presence back. Stephanie Mavunga injured her foot in early February and missed the team's last six games, including the win over No. 2 Maryland and the entire Big Ten tournament. Before her injury, she was the Buckeyes' leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.
"No one's going to work harder. No one's going to be in the gym more than she will."– Kevin McGuff on Kelsey Mitchell
"She's making great progress. We're very confident we'll have her when the NCAA Tournament rolls around," McGuff said. "We'll work her back in. I think in her absence Alexa (Hart) and Tori (McCoy) have done a great job."
A large part of the team's offensive woes on Saturday was Mitchell's off night. Given that she's only finished in single digits twice in her career, it's unlikely that will happen again, especially with her work ethic.
"She's a spectacular player, one of the very best in college basketball and tonight wasn't her night," McGuff said. "But no one's going to work harder. No one's going to be in the gym more than she will. And she's going to make sure that her having an off night doesn't happen again this year, I can assure you of that."
One bright spot of the loss is it brought out the leadership in Shayla Cooper, Ohio State's lone senior. While the rest of the team struggled and looked disheartened late in the game, Cooper put the team on her back, scoring nine fourth-quarter points while leading the team vocally. She played with incredible energy and was in her teammates' faces, oftentimes physically moving them when they were out of position or hung their heads.
Cooper said she was just doing everything she could to get the win, and sent text messages to her teammates after the game reminding them to focus on pushing forward.
It's that kind of leadership the Buckeyes will need, because as disheartening as the loss was, the biggest prize is still ahead of them.
"We have a great opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament and make some noise," McGuff said. "And this could be something that kind of resets us and allows us to refocus and really energizes us as we head to the NCAA Tournament."
"That's on us," McGuff said. "That's what we have to make sure happens."
