Ohio State upset at home by Duke, NCAA Tournament run cut short
COLUMBUS — This wasn’t how the tournament run was supposed to end for Ohio State.
And when the Buckeyes recaptured the lead with less than six minutes to play and the Schottenstein Center crowd reached 102 decibels, it felt like Ohio State was going to escape with a win.
But Duke just didn’t go away. The Blue Devils made timely shots. The Buckeyes, we’ll, didn’t. In the biggest upset of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament so far, No. 2 seed Ohio State fell on its home court and was knocked out by No. 7 seed Duke.
Final score: Duke 75, Ohio State 63. Brackets in Columbus are busted. Ohio State is staying home; the Blue Devils are Sweet 16 bound.
A year after the Buckeyes made it to the Elite Eight and fell one step short of the Final Four, this year’s team was supposed to get there. Kevin McGuff returned nearly all of his stars, including senior Jacy Sheldon and sophomore Cotie McMahon. The Buckeyes even went into the transfer portal and added Celeste Taylor, formerly of Duke, to make sure a deep tournament run was in store.
It panned out with a 15-game winning streak in the regular season and a Big Ten regular season title. It was supposed to yield this program its first Final Four since 1993 — its lone trip.
And for the first 17 minutes, Ohio State looked like it would coast past the first two rounds with an easy win over Duke after destroying Maine in the first round. The Buckeyes led by as many as 15 in the first half, thanks to a dominant start from Cotie McMahon and the relentless press defense that sped Duke up.
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But the Blue Devils responded, closing the first half on a 9-0 run and extended it to 11-0 with the first basket of the second half.
And the Duke haymakers just kept coming. Another run in the third quarter gave the Blue Devils a two-point lead. They led the remainder of the third quarter and carried a one-point lead into the fourth.
Back and forth. Ohio State took the lead. Then Duke. Then the Buckeyes. That was the story of the fourth quarter, all the way until Duke extended its lead and forced Ohio State into bad shots down the stretch.
Of course, it didn’t help that Sheldon was held to one of her season-lows in the scoring department. That Ohio State missed nine free throws and went 1-of-10 from the 3-point line. It didn’t help that Taylor fouled out just halfway through the fourth quarter, leaving the Buckeyes without one of their top weapons for the most critical stretch of the season.
Ohio State didn’t make big-time shots late. Duke did.
And instead of celebrating two home wins to kick off what should have been a memorable NCAA Tournament run, the Buckeyes are staying home. Ohio State has suffered a March upset.
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