OSU basketball remains perfect after beating Oregon, off to best start since 2011-12
Ohio State was without starting point guard Madison Greene, having lost her to a knee injury just the night before. The Buckeyes were without last year's leading scorer Jacy Sheldon, who normally handles the ball in Greene's absence but is week-to-week with a lower leg injury. And against No. 16 Oregon in the championship game of the San Diego Invitational, OSU improved its record to 13-0.
"We played really well in the first half," coach Kevin McGuff said after his team's 84-67 win. "We've played a difficult schedule, so I'm proud of our kids. We've just showed up and competed every night."
As a result of that, No. 3 Ohio State is off to its best start since 2011-2012 when they opened 15-0. They have beaten three ranked teams this year.
Against the Ducks, Rebeka Mikulasikova led the way with 27 points on 10-for-23 shooting. Taylor Mikesell, who played for Oregon during the 2020-21 season, was 5 of 7 from behind the arc. That ended a three-game cold spell in which the senior made just 6 of her 25 attempts from 3-point range.
"We need Rebeka and T-Mike to make shots," McGuff said, "and they did tonight."
Mikesell played all 40 minutes.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t one of the first games I looked at on the schedule," she admitted. "At the end of the day, we had to take care of business ... and we did that through some adversity."
Rikki Harris stepped up, filling in for Greene. She had a career-high eight assists and four rebounds. It softened what had the potential to be a big blow to the Buckeyes, and still might be.
"We don't know what it is yet," said McGuff of Greene's injury. "It was just devastating for our team, but with Rikki out there, we were running what we wanted to run."
Ohio State sophomore Taylor Thierry was a star on defense with two blocks and two steals on a night when she also contributed 14 points. About the only Oregon player Ohio State failed to bottle up was Toledo native Grace VanSlooten, who scored 29.
It was not enough to keep the Ducks from ending up 18 points below their season average.
Ohio State's win closed out the team's non-conference schedule. The Buckeyes are next in action Wednesday with a road tipoff against Northwestern.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State roughs up Oregon even without Greene, Sheldon available
