One of the trademarks of the University of Maine women’s basketball team has always been its team defense.
The 24-9 America East conference and tournament champion Black Bears defend tenaciously as a unit and have held opponents to an average of 56.3 points per game, which is 24th best in the country among 349 Division I teams.
However, their defense will be put to the ultimate challenge in their NCAA Tournament opener against Big Ten regular season champion Ohio State, 25-5, on Friday at noon at the 18,809-seat Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.
The 17th-ranked Buckeyes are averaging 79.8 points per game, which is 15th best in the country. Their 46.74 percent field goal percentage is also 15th.
Their five starters are shooting 48.8 percent from the floor.
They have scored 80 or more points 14 times in their 30 games including a 100-92 overtime win over NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes.
Four Ohio State starters are averaging in double-figures and the fifth starter is averaging 9.5 points per game.
“We’re at our best when we spread the scoring around,” said 11th-year head coach Kevin McGuff. “That means we’re really moving the ball around well, we’re sharing the ball and we’re making the extra pass.”
McGuff was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year and is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award.
Graduate student guard Jacy Sheldon is the team’s leading scorer with her 18 points per game average and she was chosen to the All-Big Ten first team along with sophomore forward Cotie McMahon, who is their No. 2 scorer (14.1 ppg).
Sheldon is third in the Big Ten in scoring and 11th in assists (3.7 apg).
McMahon was the league’s Freshman of the Year last season and is 13th in rebounding (6.5) and 16th in scoring.
Junior guard-forward Taylor Thierry (11.4 ppg) and graduate student guard Celeste Taylor (10.2 ppg) were selected to the second team and Taylor was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Taylor was the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year last season when she was at Duke University (North Carolina).
Taylor is one of four finalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award which goes to the top defender in the country.
Ohio State has limited opponents to 63.8 points per game, second lowest in the Big Ten.
Sheldon is one of 10 Naismith semifinalists for national Player of the Year.
Taylor and Sheldon are the Big Ten’s leaders in steals per game with 2.3 and 2.1, respectively.
Taylor is 12th in the league in assists (3.4).
Their fifth starter, 6-foot-4 graduate student forward Rebeka Mikulasikova, is averaging 9.5 points per game and was a Big Ten honorable mention.
Ohio State has scored a lot of points off transition resulting from turnovers caused by its pressing defense.
The Buckeyes force 21.2 turnovers per game, which is eighth-most in Division I.
Their turnover margin is a plus-7.7 which is fourth in the nation.
UMaine commits just 12.2 turnovers per game which is 12th-lowest in Division I.
“We try to play an up-tempo style of game with our full-court press and convert turnovers into easy baskets. That’s a big part of our identity,” said McGuff.
McMahon, Thierry and Taylor are the leading rebounders with 6.5, 5.4 and 4.1 per game, respectively.
The Buckeyes have averaged 34.1 rebounds compared to the opponents’ 36.2.
They have four reserves who have averaged at least 9 ½ minutes of playing time per game in redshirt senior guard Rikki Harris (17.4 minutes, 4.4 ppg), redshirt senior guard Madison Greene (12.8 minutes, 2.8 ppg), graduate student forward Eboni Walker (10.8 minutes, 2.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg), freshman guard Diana Collins (10.3 minutes, 3.2 ppg) and redshirt sophomore guard Emma Shumate (9.5 minutes, 4 ppg).
Ohio State strung together a 15-game winning streak before losing at Iowa 93-83 in its last regular season game and then getting upset by eighth seed Maryland in the Big Ten quarterfinals 82-61.
“I had high expectations coming into the season but we didn’t play that well in November and December. But after Christmas, we have been playing really good basketball,” said McGuff,
He said his team played well in the loss at Iowa but didn’t play well at all against Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament.
He has a lot of respect for UMaine.
“They’re a program that’s used to winning,” said McGuff. “They’re very well-coached and very disciplined. They have good chemistry and they all have clear roles.
“They have two elite players in Anne (Simon) and Adrianna (Smith) and everybody else plays really well around them. They’re good. They do a really nice job. They run a good offense.
“We’re going to have to play well on Friday to be successful,” said McGuff.