Bruins Close Non-Conference Slate at Top-15 Ohio State Friday

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Wrapping up its regular season non-conference schedule, the Belmont University women's basketball team travels to Columbus, Ohio, Friday for a matchup with top-15 ranked Ohio State. Tipoff from Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center is set for 12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET.
 
Friday's matinee will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network+ with Austin Crume (play-by-play) and Connor Schuh (analyst) on the call. Tyler Danburg will be reporting from the sideline. A paid subscription to B1G+ is required. However, the game can be heard for free on Belmont Bruins Radio on iHeart Radio with Dr. Rich Tiner providing play-by-play of the action. Live in-game statistics will be available at BelmontBruins.com.
 
What's Bruin

• Riding a five-game winning streak the Bruins (7-3) have held each of their last five opponents under 70 points. Belmont has kept its last three opponents under 60 points.
• During their winning streak, the Bruins have limited their opponents to an average of 58.2 points and 36.6 percent shooting.
• Only receiving-votes Mississippi State has shot better than 41 percent against Belmont this season.
• Coming off a 65-54 road win at Kennesaw State this past Sunday afternoon, the Bruins have won three in a row away from Nashville.
• Belmont has won each of its last two true road games.
• The Bruins have put together at least a five-game winning streak in 12 consecutive seasons going back to 2012-13.
• The 13th-ranked Buckeyes will be the second top-15 opponent Belmont has faced this season as the Bruins challenged then fourth-ranked Stanford on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at the Ball Dawgs Classic in Las Vegas.
• Ohio State represents the sixth power conference team Belmont has gone up against this season. Five of the Bruins' first six games were against power conference programs.
• Belmont owns two power conference wins this year, defeating Southeastern Conference mainstay Georgia in convincing fashion, 76-50, in its home opener on Nov. 10 and routing the Big Ten Conference's Northwestern 83-61 in the desert on Nov. 24 at the Ball Dawgs Classic.
• The Bruins have five victories over power conference programs in four seasons. In addition to the Lady Bulldogs and the Wildcats, Belmont has earned wins against Oregon, Ole Miss and Auburn in recent years.
• The Bruins also came within a point of defeating receiving-votes Mississippi State on Sunday, Nov. 19 inside the Curb Event Center. A free-throw line jumper by freshman standout guard Jailyn Banks and a putback attempt from junior guard Kilyn McGuff both rimmed off in the final seconds.
• Following an 11-day break from game action, Belmont pulled out a gritty triumph in Kennesaw, Georgia, thanks to a strong second quarter and a 20-2 scoring run in the first half. A 16-0 Bruin run in the second quarter gave the visitors all the momentum they needed as Belmont scored 20 points off 19 Owl turnovers. Behind career-high scoring performances from junior forwards Tessa Miller (19) and Carmyn Harrison (8), the Bruins overcame a 36-30 deficit on the glass.
• Miller went 5-for-8 from the field and was a perfect 9-for-9 at the free-throw line at Kennesaw State, setting a career high for made free throws. She has scored in double figures in nine of 10 games this season and has tallied five assists in each of her last two outings. In Belmont's battle with the top-five ranked Cardinal, Miller went 9-for-16 from the floor for 18 points after registering her fifth career double-double in the Bruins' blowout of Georgia with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
• Averaging 15.2 points on 55.1 percent (27-of-49) shooting and 8.0 rebounds over her last five games, McGuff earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week honors for the first time of her career on Dec. 4. Scoring 13 points last time out against the Owls, McGuff has notched double-doubles in two of her last four games. In the 77th Battle of the Boulevard versus nearby rival Lipscomb, McGuff had a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with 13 points.
• Junior forward Kendal Cheesman had another strong shooting performance at Kennesaw State, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and finishing with 11 points. She pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds versus then fourth-ranked Stanford and scored a game-high 21 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including going 4-for-7 from distance, in the win over Northwestern inside The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada. In her first career start, Cheesman erupted for a career-high 28 points on 9-for-15 three-point shooting and collected nine rebounds in the convincing home win over the Lady Bulldogs. Her nine three-pointers are tied for the third-most by a NCAA Division I women's basketball player in a game thus far this season and were just one shy of both the single-game program and Curb Event Center record. The Tampa, Florida (H.B. Plant HS), native became the first player since at least 2009-10 to make nine threes and secure nine boards against a power conference team. For her performance, Cheesman was selected as Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Player of the Week (Nov. 14).
• Off to a sensational start to her collegiate career, Banks has three times been selected as MVC Freshman of the Week (Dec. 11, Nov. 20, Nov. 13). She's reached double-figure scoring in all but three games and has connected on four of her last six three-point attempts. A native of Spring Hill, Tennessee (Middle Tennessee Christian School), Banks tallied 23 points in the opener at the University of Missouri, the fourth-most by any true freshman this season making her debut.
• After her true junior season was cut short due to injury last year, guard Tuti Jones returned for the season opener against the Tigers and distributed at least four assists in seven of the first eight games of the season. Averaging a team-best 4.3 assists per game, Jones recorded her second career double-double against the Wildcats in Vegas with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists. The Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), native has tallied 188 career steals, which ranks among the top 10 in program history. In fact, Jones is third in Belmont's NCAA era in steals as she ranks behind only Erica Davenport (210) and Tara Montgomery (244). Named to the Preseason All-MVC Second Team, Jones was the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an All-OVC First Team selection as a sophomore in 2021-22.
• The Buckeyes are the ninth of 14 opponents on the Bruins' schedule who had a winning record in 2022-23. Ohio State is the sixth of 10 adversaries who won 20 or more games last year, the seventh of 12 teams who made a national postseason tournament last March and the fifth of six NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago.
• Half of Belmont's opponents thus far this season are ranked in the top 90 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), including No. 3 Stanford. The Bruins are currently 75th in the NET.
• The Buckeyes will be the second-highest ranked team in the NET Belmont has faced this year with Ohio State checking in at No. 14.
• The Bruins moved up a spot to No. 12 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25^®.
• Belmont won its sixth regular season conference championship in seven seasons last year. The Bruins have captured nine regular season conference titles in Belmont's NCAA era. Including the regular season and league tournament, the Bruins have won 16 combined conference championships in three different Division I conferences (MVC, OVC and Atlantic Sun Conference).
• Belmont is one of only 11 teams in the nation to have won 20 or more games for eight-straight seasons.
• The Bruins (11) are one of only three programs to have won more than 10 combined conference championships (regular season and tournament) over the last seven seasons. UConn (14) and Florida Gulf Coast (12) are the other two.
• Belmont is the only school in the nation to win 20-plus games for eight consecutive seasons in both women's and men's basketball.
• The Bruins have either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls each of the last eight seasons.
• Belmont has won the 17th-most games in NCAA Division I women's basketball history (1,064).

 
A Family Affair

• Kilyn McGuff is the oldest of Buckeye head coach Kevin McGuff's six children. With coach McGuff in his 11th season leading Ohio State and previously spending nine seasons as the head coach at Xavier in Cincinnati, Kilyn grew up in Ohio. She played at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus where she averaged nearly 17 points as a senior.

 
Under Coach Brooks

• In his seventh season at the helm, head coach Bart Brooks picked up his 150th win in less than 200 career games with the Bruins' 72-68 victory at Troy on Nov. 29.
• Coach Brooks was named to the preseason watch list for the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats. Since his arrival in Nashville, he has led Belmont to a 153-49 (.757) record, four NCAA Tournaments and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in 2021 and 2022. The third-fastest head coach to 100 career victories in Division I women's basketball history, Brooks owns an astounding record of 111-14 (.888) against conference opponents, including conference tournament games. He ranks among the top 10 of active Division I head coaches in terms of winning percentage.

 
MVC Preseason Poll

• The Bruins were picked fourth in the MVC but gained one first-place vote in the preseason predicted order of finish after capturing a regular season championship in Belmont's first year in the conference in 2022-23. Going 23-12 overall and 17-3 in the Valley, the Bruins reached their third-straight conference tournament title game and made their 10th national postseason appearance in 11 seasons with an at-large bid to the WNIT.

 
Against the Top 25

• Belmont is 1-32 all-time versus nationally-ranked opponents in the Bruins' NCAA era.
• Belmont's lone victory against a top-25 team came in the 2021 NCAA Tournament First Round when the Bruins ousted 14th-ranked and fifth-seeded Gonzaga 64-59.
• The Buckeyes are ranked 13th in both the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 Coaches Poll.

 
Against the B1G

• Belmont is 3-15 all-time versus current Big Ten members with triumphs over Northwestern, Indiana and Nebraska.
• In addition to the Bruins' win over the Wildcats during Thanksgiving week, Belmont defeated the Hoosiers 58-54 on Dec. 4, 2012, in Indiana. During the Bruins' 1975-76 postseason run, Belmont toppled the Huskers 77-52 in the 1976 National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT).
• The Bruins' last trip to a Big Ten school was last November when Belmont traveled to fourth-ranked and eventual national runner-up Iowa.

 
Versus Ohio State

• Friday will be only the second meeting between the two programs. Ohio State defeated the Bruins 84-56 on Nov. 19, 2015, in Columbus.
• Second-year director of basketball operations Sally McCabe ('18) had six rebounds and four points against the Buckeyes in the first matchup.

 
About the Buckeyes

• Ohio State is off to a 9-2 start and 1-0 in Big Ten play after defeating 25th-ranked Penn State in overtime on Dec. 10.
• The Buckeyes are coming off a 77-71 loss to second-ranked UCLA Monday night. In front of an announced crowd of 6,800 at Value City Arena, Ohio State nearly erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit and outscored the visiting Bruins 26-10 across the final eight-and-a-half minutes.
• The Buckeyes' only other loss came in the season opener against now top-10 ranked USC (83-74) in Las Vegas.
• Ohio State was picked second in the Big Ten's preseason coaches poll and third in the conference's preseason media poll. The Buckeyes finished fourth in the Big Ten a season ago after going 12-6 in league play.
• Last March, Ohio State earned a No. 3 seed for the NCAA Tournament and reached its first Elite Eight under coach McGuff. The Buckeyes went 28-8 overall in 2022-23.
• Graduate 5-foot-10 guard Jacy Sheldon, a preseason All-Big Ten selection and returning AP All-American honorable mention performer, leads Ohio State in scoring (18.0 PPG).
• Sophomore 6-foot forward Cotie McMahon, the 2023 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and also a preseason All-Big Ten pick, is averaging 15.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
• Junior 6-foot-1 guard/forward Taylor Thierry, who was a member of both the All-Big Ten Second Team and Big Ten All-Defensive Team last season, is averaging a team-best 5.8 rebounds and 13.7 points per contest.
• Graduate 6-foot-4 forward Rebeka Mikulášiková, who claimed All-Big Ten honorable mention recognition last year, is averaging 9.6 points per outing.
• Graduate 5-foot-11 guard Celeste Taylor, who was at Duke the last two seasons and was named 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year in addition to earning a spot on the All-ACC First Team, leads the Buckeyes with 3.7 assists per game.

 
Up Next
Belmont will have a week off before beginning MVC play with a three-game homestand starting with the University of Illinois Chicago on Saturday, Dec. 30. Tipoff of the Bruins' Valley opener is scheduled for 4 p.m. from the Curb. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
How to Follow
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