The Michigan–Ohio State women's basketball rivalry is a

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

between the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

and

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

women's basketball programs that is part of the larger rivalry between the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. The rivalry between the

Wolverines The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

and Buckeyes notably includes

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and men's basketball.

Series history

As of March 2023, Ohio State leads the series 60–16, including winning 30 of the first 32 meetings between the two teams. With both teams being in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, the teams have met at least once a year since 1978. In January 2011, Michigan completed its first season sweep of Ohio State. From 2010 to 2021, only two of the last 20 games between Michigan and Ohio State have had a margin larger than 11 points. While the last twelve games between the rivals have each been decided by single digits. Michigan has seven wins over Ohio State since

Kim Barnes Arico Kimberly Ann Barnes Arico (born August 9, 1970) is an American women's basketball coach, and the current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines women's basketball team. Previously, she was head coach of the St. John's University women's basketbal ...

took over as head coach in 2012–13, accounting for 44 percent of Michigan's 16 all-time wins against the Buckeyes. On January 7, 2012, Michigan upset No. 8 Ohio State 73–62. This marked the Wolverines first win over Ohio State when the Buckeyes were ranked in the Top-10. This also marked the Wolverines third consecutive win over the Buckeyes, who were ranked each time, their longest win streak during the rivalry. On January 7, 2018, for the first time in the series' history dating back to 1978, the teams met while both were ranked in the Top-25. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 10 in both the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

and the

Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially ...

, while the Wolverines were ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll and No. 20 in the Coaches Poll. Ohio State won the game 78–71 in overtime. On January 16, 2018, the teams again met while both were ranked in the Top-25. The Buckeyes (16–2, 5–0 Big Ten) were ranked No. 8 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, while the Wolverines (15–4, 4–2 Big Ten) were ranked No. 19 in the AP Poll and No. 18 in the Coaches Poll. Michigan upset Ohio State 84–75. On February 21, 2021, the teams met while both were ranked in the Top-25. The Wolverines (13–2, 8–2 Big Ten) were ranked No. 11 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, while the Buckeyes (13–4, 9–4 Big Ten) were ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll. Michigan won the game 75–66. On December 31, 2021, the teams met while both were ranked in the Top-25. The Wolverines (11–1, 2–0 Big Ten) were ranked No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 7 in the Coaches Poll, while the Buckeyes (9–2, 1–1 Big Ten) were ranked No. 25 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. Michigan won the game 90–71. This was Michigan's largest margin of victory over Ohio State in the history of the rivalry. On January 27, 2022, the teams met while both were ranked in the Top-25. The Wolverines (17–2, 8–1 Big Ten) were ranked No. 7 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, while the Buckeyes (15–3, 7–2 Big Ten) were ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll, and No. 19 Coaches Poll. Michigan won the game 77–58. This matched Michigan's largest margin of victory over Ohio State in the history of the rivalry. The win marked Michigan's first season sweep over Ohio State since the 2010–11 season. On March 3, 2023, Ohio State defeated Michigan 81-79 in the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament marking the first time in series history that both teams not only met three times in a single season, but also the first time either team beat the other three teams in a single season, with the Buckeyes completing three victories against the Wolverines in the 2022-2023 season.

Rival accomplishments

The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs.

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan-Ohio State women's basketball rivalry College basketball rivalries in the United States Big Ten Conference rivalries Michigan Wolverines women's basketball Ohio State Buckeyes women's basketball