Turnovers Plague Ohio State In Season-Ending Loss To Notre Dame

During a relatively successful 2026 season, the Buckeyes weren’t always perfect, but they seldom struggled with turnovers. Heading into its 83-73 loss to Notre Dame in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday, the Buckeyes ranked 53rd nationally, only committing 13.6 turnovers per game. However, against the Fighting Irish, the Buckeyes committed 21 turnovers, their second-highest total of the season.

According to head coach Kevin McGuff, whose teams are known for their ability to turn other teams over, the Buckeyes’ carelessness with the ball cost them the game.

“We had way too many turnovers that were easy baskets for them,” McGuff said. “Typcially we win the battle of points off turnovers, and today it was 25-25. That’s not a good recipe for us, but you have to give Notre Dame credit.”

Although Ohio State won its first NCAA tournament game 75-54 over No. 14 Howard, it struggled with turnovers in that game as well.

The Buckeyes committed 14 turnovers in the win over the Bison. McGuff said he was unsure why his team struggled with maintaining possession of the ball in its final two games.

“We had taken care of the ball really well all year,” McGuff said. “Usually, around 13 or 14 turnovers was like a normal night for us, but we got really sloppy with the ball the last two games.”

Like the Buckeyes, the Fighting Irish pride themselves on their ability to steal extra possessions with their defensive intensity. Led by star guard Hannah Hidalgo, who averages over five steals per game, Notre Dame averages 20.0 forced turnovers per game, the 34th-best mark in the country.

Still, junior guard Kennedy Cambridge felt that Ohio State’s turnovers were self-inflicted errors. 

“I don’t really think it was Notre Dame,” Cambridge said. “I think that once we started turning the ball over, we got in our heads, and we weren’t playing Buckeye basketball.”

It wasn’t all bad for Ohio State’s offense. Sophomore point guard Jaloni Cambridge tied a career-high total of 41 points, but the rest of her team combined for just 32 points on 11-27 shooting. Hidalgo said the Fighting Irish planned to slow down some of the team’s other contributors.

“We did a great job of just trying to slow them down,” Hidalgo said. “Jaloni, she was hooping, of course, so it was hard to slow her down. But I think we were able to take everything else away and we were just able to get into those passing lanes and just try and get stops.”

Although she had one of the best scoring outings of her career, Jaloni Cambridge struggled more than anyone with turnovers. The Buckeyes’ star point guard committed a game-high seven turnovers in the loss and said her team’s turnovers came down to carelessness.

“We just weren’t taking care of the ball,” Cambridge said. “I mean, it’s Notre Dame, but we’ve been dealing with that all season, just not taking care of the ball. We just needed to make smarter plays. We could have got away with not turning the ball over if we just made smarter plays.”