Ohio State’s backcourt defense became a describing attribute for the Buckeyes this season.
This was in part thanks to graduate guard Celeste Taylor, who was named a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Finalist Tuesday.
Taylor, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, led the conference with 2.3 steals per game and helped the Buckeyes to the No. 2 scoring defense in the Big Ten.
In addition, thanks to the Buckeyes third-quarter full-court press, they pulled away with the fourth-highest turnover margin in the nation — +7.7 per game — and the second-highest among Power 6 conferences behind West Virginia. Overall, Ohio State forced 21.2 turnovers per game, good for No. 8 in the country.
According to Her Hoop Stats, Taylor has the No. 32 defensive rating with 82.5 among all qualifying (> 22 games played) Power 6 guards. This number also only ranks second behind Michigan State’s Julia Ayrault in the Big Ten.
By the same qualifications, Taylor also ranks in the top 35 in both defensive win shares and per 40 minutes.
Taylor joins Stanford senior forward Cameron Brink, South Carolina senior center Kamilla Cardoso, and Notre Dame freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo as the other finalists for the national Defensive Player of the Year.
If Taylor won, she would be the first Ohio State player and the first Big Ten player since the awards were first honored in 2018 to do so.
Winners for all Naismith awards will be announced on April 3, in between the Elite Eight and Final Four. Until then, Taylor might turn her focus to Friday, when the Buckeyes host the 15-seeded Maine Black Bears at noon, streaming on ESPN.
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