{"id":501450,"date":"2025-12-28T16:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T16:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/501450\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T16:44:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T16:44:19","slug":"ohio-state-buckeyes-face-tough-test-against-ucla-in-conference-home-opener-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/501450\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State Buckeyes face tough test against UCLA in conference home opener Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 The<a href=\"https:\/\/abc6onyourside.com\/sports\/buckeye-basketball\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"https:\/\/abc6onyourside.com\/sports\/buckeye-basketball\" class=\"themeColorForLinks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Ohio State Buckeyes <\/a>are set to face a significant challenge as they welcome the fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins for their conference home opener on Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n<p>Both teams boast an 11-1 record, with the Buckeyes coming off what head coach Kevin McGuff described as &#8220;one of their better games of the season&#8221; against Western Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>However, McGuff noted that defending the three-point line has been a struggle for the team this season, emphasizing its importance in practice ahead of the matchup.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They can make you pay if you let them get open shots from the three-point line,&#8221; McGuff said.<\/p>\n<p>The Bruins bring a wealth of experience, returning four starters from last season, including reigning Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts.<\/p>\n<p>The Buckeyes fell to the Bruins twice last season, and McGuff highlighted the need to limit Betts as a key takeaway from those meetings. <\/p>\n<p>After a short holiday break, the Buckeyes have had two practices to prepare for what McGuff considers a good measuring stick for the young team. <\/p>\n<p>Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center, and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 The Ohio State Buckeyes are set to face a significant challenge as they welcome&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,32513,5748,5746,217,11890,231,772,1544,9060,62398,5747],"class_list":{"0":"post-501450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-big-ten-network","10":"tag-bruins","11":"tag-buckeyes","12":"tag-college-basketball","13":"tag-lauren-betts","14":"tag-ncaa","15":"tag-ncaa-basketball","16":"tag-ncaab","17":"tag-ohio-state","18":"tag-three-point","19":"tag-ucla"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115798203682225595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}