The non-conference schedule can be a mixed bag for power conference schools. One day, there is a mid-major school on home court, there to give their players an experience and go home with a check. These are the games that give a team like Ohio State women’s basketball a chance to tuneup, give bench players minutes, and prepare for the arduous conference schedule.
Sunday is not one of those games for Ohio State
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That is when the Buckeyes travel to Hartford, Connecticut to face the top-ranked UConn Huskies — a 12-time national championship program which entered the 2025-26 season with last year’s NCAA championship trophy that pushed the program total to a dozen.
Preview
Sunday’s matchup for the Buckeyes is a tale of two vastly different programs. Ohio State is a program in the middle of a slight rebuild, with over half of the team donning the scarlet and gray for the first time this season, and all but one of those did not play a single college game until Nov. 9, against the Coppin State Eagles.
Then there are the UConn Huskies, a team with a realistic chance of going undefeated this season, led by a group of starters who would all be the best player on their team if they were in other programs.
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“We like to measure ourselves against the best, and we get that chance on Sunday,” McGuff told Land-Grant Holy Land. “They’ve obviously come off another national championship, and had a great offseason to really bolster the roster.”
In that group of stars is forward Serah Williams — proof of this roster leading other teams, because for three seasons Williams did just that with the Wisconsin Badgers. Williams averaged 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game game in three games against Ohio State as a Badger.
So far this season, Williams has not taken over games like she did in Madison — averaging 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game thus fa — but there is an upward trajectory. Each game, Williams’ game is improving in UConn’s offense. Facing the Buckeyes will offer the forward her first sense of familiarity against McGuff’s havoc-inducing full court press defense that she faced multiple times while playing in the Big Ten.
Then there is guard Azzi Fudd and forward Sarah Strong. Buckeye fans know Fudd from the last matchup in the 2023 Sweet Sixteen, but that was when Fudd just returned from injury. Last season, Fudd was finally healthy and her play followed.
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Fudd, a fifth-year senior, shot 43.6% from beyond the arc last season, which led UConn and the Big East. The guard is a pure shooter and can also run to the basket. Fudd earned Player of the Tournament in the 2025 Final Four where she scored 43 points in two games. Alongside Paige Bueckers, Fudd had 25 points, five rebounds, and three steals in the national title game against South Carolina, as they blew out Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks.
While Fudd is a superstar in her own right, Strong could be the best player in the nation. Strong entered college basketball last season as the No. 1 overall recruit, in front of Ohio State point guard Jaloni Cambridge.
In Strong’s first season, the freshman nearly averaged a double-double with 16.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. The forward also shot 38.8% from three-point range and averaged 1.5 made shots from deep per game. Basically, the 6-foot-2 Strong can do it all. The only thing that is keeping Strong out of the WNBA is the age rules for NCAA draftees.
“This will be a really tough environment to play,” said McGuff. “And you know, for a lot of our kids is having only played two games so far this year, it’ll be a really big challenge. This is why you come to Ohio State — to play games like this.”
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Ohio State is outmatched nearly everywhere on the court, but the system matchup does give the Buckeyes some advantages. UConn also plays a press, which the Scarlet and Gray practice against everyday when they go up against themselves. A downfall of this defense is that once its broken, there are open shooters on the other side of the court.
All of Ohio State’s 11 players can shoot from beyond the arc, even though the Buckeyes have not gotten consistent three-point makes from everyone thus far. In two games, the Buckeyes shot 23.3% from three-point range. If the press break works, it will give Ohio State the chance to improve upon their early deep shooting woes.
The duo of Williams and Strong will be a battle for likely Ohio State starting post players Kylee Kitts and Elsa Lemmilä. UConn’s duo has size, experience and ability to test the young interior pair, but it also means valuable experience for the rest of the season.
How close this game is at the final buzzer will go to the team who keeps their calm. Both sides will ramp up intensity and force turnovers.
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Last time these two sides played, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said postgame that former Ohio State forward Cotie McMahon — now with Ole Miss — came out of nowhere to surprise the Huskies. A good candidate for that this time around is guard Kennedy Cambridge. In two games, the redshirt junior showed that defensively she is a tough matchup with 10 steals in two games.
Cambridge’s job this season will be to take on the best guard on the other side, and Sunday that will be Fudd. If Cambridge’s work continues against stiffer competition, it will move the guard into more conversation around some of the Big Ten’s strongest defenders.
Projected Lineups
Ohio State
G Jaloni Cambridge
G Chance Gray
G Kennedy Cambridge
F Kylee Kitts
C Elsa Lemmilä
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Lineup Notes
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In three games this season, Jaloni Cambridge leads the team with 20.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
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Chance Gray is shooting 75% from two-point range this season and is taking 11.4 shots inside the arc per game, compared to a career low 6.4 last season.
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The Buckeyes had 65 rebounds in the Thursday win over Bellarmine, the first time the team hit at least 60 rebounds in a game since Nov. 10, 2017 against the Stanford Cardinal.
UConn
G KK Arnold
G Azzi Fudd
G Ashlynn Shade
F Sarah Strong
F Serah Williams
Lineup Notes
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Sarah Strong leads the Huskies with 17.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in only her sophomore season.
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Last season was the first time in four seasons that Fudd started at least 30 games for UConn, due to injuries in previous seasons.
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Serah Williams notched her first double-digit scoring game this season for UConn in their last game against Loyola Chicago
Prediction
This game has the makings of a blowout for the Huskies. It will challenge the fight of the Buckeyes, but it could also be one of those games where Ohio State is too new to be impacted by it.
That probably will not be the case. The Buckeyes will have stints on defense where they slow down the Huskies, but continued slow shooting will not let Ohio State stay in the game. In the fourth quarter, the Scarlet and Gray will hit their stride, but UConn ultimately will be too much for the new look Buckeyes to handle.
How to Watch
Date: Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Where: PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford, Connecticut
Stream: Peacock
LGHL Score Prediction: 88-60 UConn Huskies
West Virginia Upset
During Thanksgiving week, the Buckeyes head to the Bahamas to play in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship. It begins against the Belmont Bruins, a team the Buckeyes struggled to beat last season. However, if Ohio State wins, and the West Virginia Mountaineers defeat McNeese State on the other side of the “Goombay Division” of the tournament, it’s a neighborly matchup between the Buckeyes and Mountaineers.
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Friday, West Virginia shocked the college basketball world when they defeated the No. 15 Duke Blue Devils. It was not only a shock because they beat a ranked side, after all West Virginia has the 29th most votes in the weekly Associated Press poll, but how it happened.
At the end of the second quarter, a scuffle between teams started after Duke’s Jordan Wood blocked a shot from Jordan Harrison and celebrated in her face. The Mountaineers rallied around Harrison and all but five players were ejected for the second half.
Even so, the Mountaineers defeated the Blue Devils 57-49 and came back from a three-point halftime deficit to do it. West Virginia put their foot on the gas in the third quarter and outscored Duke 24-9.
