Breaking Down the Gophers' Big Ten Quarterfinal Matchup With Ohio State

Minnesota will officially rematch the Buckeyes on Friday afternoon in Indianapolis.

Ohio State Buckeyes guard Jaloni Cambridge (22) hits all three free throws to send the game to overtime after getting fouled by Michigan Wolverines guard Brooke Q. Daniels (5) in the final second of the NCAA women's basketball game at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on Feb. 25, 2026. Ohio State lost 88-86. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Gophers will officially face Ohio State at 1:30 p.m. CT in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Here's what you need to know about the matchup.

The five-seed Buckeyes took care of business in their first game of the tournament on Thursday afternoon against Indiana as 10.5-point betting favorites. The Hoosiers won their first-round matchup on Wednesday night against Nebraska, but they ran into an Ohio State train and had no answer, losing 83-59.

The Buckeyes didn't even have a great game from the conference's leading scorer, Jaloni Cambridge. She finished with 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting from the field. It was their defense of Indiana leading scorer Shay Ciezki that was ultimately the difference. She had just 12 points on 6 of 20 shooting.

Minnesota beat Ohio State in their regular-season contest 74-61 at the Barn. Cambridge had 23 points in that game, but Sophie Hart and Mara Braun both had 18 points for the Gophers. 15 offensive rebounds and a 32-16 advantage in points scored in the point was the difference for Minnesota on the scoreboard.

The Gophers are 1-1 in neutral site games this season, with a win over USF and a loss in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship against Alabama. Gophers forward Tori McKinney was out of both of those games due to injury, and she's now fully healthy. Ohio State is now 4-0 on a neutral floor with wins over Belmont, West Virginia, TCU and Indiana. The Mountaineers and Horned Frogs are locks for the NCAA Tournament, so the Buckeyes have shown the ability to compete away from home.

The Gophers were the 15th-ranked team in the NCAA Selection Committee's Top 16 reveal last Sunday, which means they would be a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament and host the first two rounds. A win over Ohio State on Friday would probably lock them into that position at the minimum, and a loss could put them right on the fringe of the top 16.

The first quarterfinal game on Friday will be between eight-seed Washington and one-seed UCLA. The winner of Ohio State-Minnesota will face the winner of that game in the semifinals at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday afternoon.

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