BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 5, 2026

Kevin McGuff

Jaloni Cambridge

Chance Gray

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Ohio State Buckeyes

Postgame Press Conference

Ohio State 83, Illinois 59

THE MODERATOR: We want to welcome Ohio State to the dais. Head coach Kevin McGuff and student-athletes Jaloni Cambridge and Chance Gray. Coach, if you will make an opening statement.

KEVIN McGUFF: We could probably just go right to the students. I'm ready for that.

Q. I've had the pleasure of watching you guys, this is the third time now this season, and Chance, the thing that stuck out the most to me is just your shooting form. It's very smooth, very simple, very easy. Can you just talk about the work that you've put in over the course of your career to get your shot to be the way it is?

CHANCE GRAY: That's pretty much the first thing I learned how to do, first thing my dad taught me. I'm in the gym every day, and I feel it's all about feel and touch. I just make sure I'm shooting the same reps, shooting the same way every day, and just make sure it carries over to the game.

Q. Jaloni, Indiana only made five 3-pointers, shot 24 percent. How do you feel the perimeter intensity was on defense today?

JALONI CAMBRIDGE: It was way better than the last time we played them, just making sure we were getting out to their shooters and not letting them get those open shots.

So being more aggressive than the last time we played them.

Q. I would love to know how you felt about the performance of your supporting cast. Kylee had 9 points, Bryn had 8, Elsa had 6. Just what these players add to your team.

CHANCE GRAY: I think we have confidence in everybody. So we just make sure they believe in themselves every game and have confidence in what they do. I think everybody shot up, and we need them to keep doing that because we're going to need everybody.

Q. For either of you, seemed like a little bit of a Helter Skelter start? How did it feel good just to get a couple shots to go down and everything kind of settled in? How did it feel there in the first quarter?

JALONI CAMBRIDGE: Yeah, we've been in this position many times before. We needed to let the game come to us. That's what we did, just settling in. They all were good shots. Just making sure we're taking our time and making sure we're making those shots.

Q. Chance, for you, 18 points today. How do you feel the offense performed just in general? It seemed like they're firing on all cylinders, especially in that second half.

CHANCE GRAY: I think we were getting good shots. Like we said, in the first half we were getting good shots; just weren't falling.

We had to work against some of the calls a little bit. I think we did a good job of staying poised and moving the ball. I think we're better when we're scoring across all cylinders. So it was a good team win.

Q. Kevin, I already asked this of the players, but it seemed like the perimeter defense was playing really well tonight, especially better than the last time you guys played Indiana. How would you describe how they played out there?

KEVIN McGUFF: I thought we had much better focus and intensity on the defensive end, especially in the half-court. We didn't play very well against them in the first half, first time around, and they really made us pay.

We watched a lot of film, and we worked on that the last couple days. It was good to see our players execute that end of the floor.

Q. The Big Ten is littered with a lot of really good guards, but you guys have a well-rounded team, and your frontcourt with Kylee and Elsa do a great job game in and game out, doing a great job of being successful so you guys can be where you are right now. Can you talk about the two of them together, what makes them special, and kind of adds to the well-rounded nature of your team at this point?

KEVIN McGUFF: Yeah, I feel really confident in our backcourt. Chance and Jaloni both have had great seasons to this point. I think today was a perfect example where they both scored the ball, but they also had 11 assists between the two of them. I think that's really what makes our team good.

We had 21 assists today, and 11 of them right here next to us. When we move the ball and make the extra pass, it usually leads to good shots. We were fortunate enough to knock down enough of those shots when we got them today.

Q. Talk a little bit about your team. Where do you think they are right now at this point after this game? This is one of your better starts from start to finish from outside game, inside game. Talk about where you think you are at at this point.

KEVIN McGUFF: Yeah, we were coming off a good win last Sunday where we shot the ball and executed at a pretty high level. It was good to see us carry that over into today. Give Indiana credit. They played extremely well yesterday and played really, really hard in the second half to put themselves in position to be here today.

They also have a short bench right now, and they sort of ran out of gas. I like the way we're playing. I think offensively our execution is as good as it's been, and we're really making the extra pass and sharing the ball. Defensively I was happy to see more so our half-court execution today.

Because the press has been good to us, but I think ultimately to continue to win here in March, not only in the Big Ten, but the NCAA, our half-court defense is going to have to be good as well.

Q. Is there any sense that you just like to make sure that you get one, get started in this kind of a setting?

KEVIN McGUFF: Yeah, you've got to -- it's sort of cliche to say, but you've got to win the first one before you can win the second. The thing about this year in particular, the Big Ten is so strong. Regardless of who you're playing, you're going to have a tough opponent.

Like I said, give Indiana credit, they've had a really great back end of the Big Ten season and have played extremely well and did a great job yesterday. We knew we'd have to play well to win today, so it was nice to get that under our belt and hopefully get comfortable with the arena, and hopefully that helps us tomorrow.

Q. You guys got Minnesota next. I know they gave you guys some trouble a couple of weeks ago. What needs to be different this time around?

KEVIN McGUFF: They're a very good team. They're well coached. The thing about Minnesota is they've got balance in what they do and they've got a great post player in Sophie Hart. They've got excellent perimeter players.

I think once again our defense will have to be really, really good. Like a little bit of a different way than it was today in that we got -- we weren't real effective defensively around the basket at Minnesota, and we'll have to be much better with our interior defense to win.

Our perimeter defense was good today, and that will have to be good tomorrow because they've got great perimeter players, but we have to match that with interior defense as well if we want to be successful.