# 2021–22 Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball team

The 2021–22 Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball team represented the Ohio State University during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Buckeyes, led by ninth year head coach Kevin McGuff, played their home games at Value City Arena. They were members of the Big Ten Conference.
They finished the season 25–7 overall and 14–4 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for first place. As the first seed in the Big Ten tournament they defeated eighth seed Michigan State in the Quarterfinals before losing to fifth seed Indiana in the Semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the sixth seed in the Spokane Region. They defeated eleventh seed Missouri State in the First Round and third seed LSU in the Second Round before losing to second seed Texas in the Sweet Sixteen to end their season.

## Previous season

The Buckeyes finished the season 13–7, 9–7 in Big Ten play to finish in seventh place. They did not participate in the Big Ten women's basketball tournament, NCAA tournament or the WNIT due to a self-imposed postseason ban.

## Schedule and results

Source:
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 3, 2021* | No. 17т | Slippery Rock | W 96–48 | – | Value City Arena (2,425) Columbus, OH |
| Regular Season ||||||
| November 10, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | No. 17т | Bucknell | W 71–48 | 1–0 | Value City Arena (2,748) Columbus, OH |
| November 14, 2021* 2:00 p.m. | No. 17т | Norfolk State | W 86–48 | 2–0 | Value City Arena (2,980) Columbus, OH |
| November 17, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | No. 21 | Bowling Green | W 94–63 | 3–0 | Value City Arena (3,418) Columbus, OH |
| November 23, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | No. 21 | Bellarmine | W 110–58 | 4–0 | Value City Arena (2,766) Columbus, OH |
| November 27, 2021* 6:00 p.m. | No. 21 | Cincinnati | W 86–50 | 5–0 | Covelli Center (2,315) Columbus, OH |
| December 1, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 18т | at Syracuse ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | L 91–97 | 5–1 | Carrier Dome (847) Syracuse, NY |
| December 5, 2021 2:00 p.m. | No. 18т | at Purdue | W 70–53 | 6–1 (1–0) | Mackey Arena (3,236) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 7, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | No. 20 | Mount St. Mary's | W 94–50 | 7–1 | Value City Arena (2,805) Columbus, OH |
| December 12, 2021 7:00 p.m., BTN | No. 20 | No. 10 Indiana | L 66–86 | 7–2 (1–1) | Value City Arena (3,606) Columbus, OH |
| December 15, 2021* 7:00 p.m. | No. 24 | Alabama State | W 97–51 | 8–2 | Value City Arena (2,832) Columbus, OH |
| December 19, 2021* 5:00 p.m., P12N | No. 24 | at UCLA | Canceled | Canceled | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA |
| December 21, 2021* 1:00 p.m. | No. 24 | at San Diego State | W 66–54 | 9–2 | Viejas Arena (562) San Diego, CA |
| December 31, 2021 Noon, BTN | No. 25 | at No. 9 Michigan Rivalry | L 71–90 | 9–3 (1–2) | Crisler Center (7,904) Ann Arbor, MI |
| January 6, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Illinois | W 90–69 | 10–3 (2–2) | Value City Arena (2,567) Columbus, OH |
| January 9, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Northwestern | W 74–61 | 11–3 (3–2) | Welsh–Ryan Arena (1,232) Evanston, IL |
| January 12, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | | Michigan State | W 89–83 | 12–3 (4–2) | Value City Arena (2,917) Columbus, OH |
| January 15, 2022 5:00 p.m., BTN+ | | at Minnesota | W 83–75 | 13–3 (5–2) | Williams Arena (3,177) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 20, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN | | No. 12 Maryland | W 95–89 | 14–3 (6–2) | Value City Arena (3,319) Columbus, OH |
| January 23, 2022 1:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | at Rutgers | W 80–71 | 15–3 (7–2) | Jersey Mike's Arena (1,219) Piscataway, NJ |
| January 27, 2022 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 22 | No. 7 Michigan Rivalry | L 58–77 | 15–4 (7–3) | Value City Arena (4,293) Columbus, OH |
| January 31, 2022 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 23 | at No. 21 Iowa | W 92–88 | 16–4 (8–3) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (6,185) Iowa City, IA |
| February 7, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN | No. 21 | Rutgers | W 61–57 | 17–4 (9–3) | Value City Arena (3,383) Columbus, OH |
| February 10, 2022 7:00 p.m., FS1 | No. 21 | Nebraska | W 80–70 | 18–4 (10–3) | Value City Arena (3,135) Columbus, OH |
| February 14, 2022 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 18 | at Illinois | W 86–67 | 19–4 (11–3) | State Farm Center (997) Champaign, IL |
| February 17, 2022 8:00 p.m., BTN | No. 18 | at No. 13 Maryland | L 72–77 | 19–5 (11–4) | Xfinity Center (4,987) College Park, MD |
| February 20, 2022 2:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 18 | Wisconsin | W 59–42 | 20–5 (12–4) | Value City Arena (5,683) Columbus, OH |
| February 24, 2022 6:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 17 | Penn State Rescheduled from 1/3 | W 78–55 | 21–5 (13–4) | Value City Arena (3,618) Columbus, OH |
| February 27, 2022 2:30 p.m., BTN | No. 17 | at Michigan State | W 61–55 | 22–5 (14–4) | Breslin Center (7,124) East Lansing, MI |
| Big Ten Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 4, 2022 11:30 a.m., BTN | (1) No. 13 | vs. (8) Michigan State Quarterfinals | W 74–58 | 23–5 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (0) Indianapolis, IN |
| March 5, 2022 3:30 p.m., BTN | (1) No. 13 | vs. (5) No. 14т Indiana Semifinals | L 62–70 | 23–6 | Gainbridge Fieldhouse (7,749) Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 19, 2022* 2:30 p.m., ESPN2 | (6 S) No. 14 | vs. (11 S) Missouri State First Round | W 63–56 | 24–6 | Maravich Center (0) Baton Rouge, LA |
| March 21, 2022 8:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (6 S) No. 14 | vs. (3 S) No. 9 LSU Second Round | W 79–64 | 25–6 | Maravich Center (8,135) Baton Rouge, LA |
| March 25, 2022* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (6 S) No. 14 | vs. (2 S) No. 6 Texas Sweet Sixteen | L 63–66 | 25–7 | Spokane Arena (0) Spokane, WA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=Spokane. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final |
| AP | 17т | 21 | 21 | 18т | 20 | 24 | 24 | 25 | RV | RV | RV | 22 | 23 | 21 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Coaches | 25 | 24 | 20 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 25 | RV | RV | 25 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 13 |
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked and Did not receive votes |
Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.