Although they will not admit it, Ohio State players wanted Iowa to participate in the Big Ten Tournament.

On Thursday afternoon, before Ohio State women’s basketball was set for their last practiced at home before taking the three-hour bus trip west to Indianapolis, Indiana, forwards Taylor Thierry and Ajae Petty spoke with the media. It was a “last hurrah” kind of availability to fit in last second questions about March experience for the two senior members of the team, team chemistry and if the team is prepared for the postseason.

At the time, the opponent for the Buckeyes’ Friday night quarterfinal game of the Big Ten Tournament was undecided. It would either be the No. 24 Michigan State Spartans or the unranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

Thierry and Petty were asked point blank: which team would you rather face?

The pair laughed and sighed. Then out came the PC answer.

“I honestly don’t care. I think they’re both really good teams,” said Thierry. “It’s gonna be either, honestly, any team that we play, they’re just gonna be hard, it’s gonna be tough games. So I don’t think I really have a preference, but I just wanna focus on our end, on executing our game plan.”

A great, well-trained, answer to a question that doesn’t have a right answer. Say a specific team, get that team and then lose to them creates bulletin board material. It puts undue pressure on the situation.

Pressure is not something the Iowa vs. Ohio State rivalry lacked over the last four years. The two sides shared a Big Ten regular season title, the Hawkeyes beat the Buckeyes in the 2023 Big Ten Tournament final and the two played a pay-per-view level overtime thriller in Columbus in January of 2024.

Later on in the conversation, Thierry was asked more about Iowa. This time it was seeing if Thierry felt the same way forward Cotie McMahon feels about the Hawkeyes.

Last year, after the overtime win for Ohio State, a win that went towards the Buckeyes earning the sole custody of the Big Ten regulars season title, McMahon shared how personal it was to beat the Hawkeyes and this year she reinforced it after scoring 25 points against them on Feb. 17. After the win, McMahon was asked if she still thinks the matchup is personal.

“Oh, yeah, for sure. It’s never going to change,” said McMahon.

This rivalry hit a fever pitch in January of 2023. After beating Ohio State in Columbus, then Iowa guard Caitlin Clark took a dub chain shirt (a giveaway that night) and threw it over her shoulder as she walked in front of the Buckeyes’ bench.

“Caitlin Clark took the dub chain shirt, as like a little joke, whatever, which is cool,” said McMahon. “I was just thinking in my head, seeing that, we just have to smile through it and move on to the next.”

In 2024, the next regular season game for the two teams, McMahon had 33 points and 12 rebounds in the 100-92 Ohio State victory. That was the first time McMahon shared more about how the Buckeyes see the Hawkeyes.