Buckeyes Hold On For Rare Victory At Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Kohl Center has been Ohio State’s house of horror over the years. The last time the Buckeyes walked away from Wisconsin as victors was over 10 years ago -- and maybe the most painful loss during that stretch came last year when Jordan Taylor and the Badgers came from 15 back to upset the undefeated and top-ranked Buckeyes.

Ohio State finally put an end to their Wisconsin-road woes, defeating the Badgers 58-52 on Saturday afternoon.

After the game, Thad Matta (who was 0-6 at Wisconsin as Ohio State’s head coach) was thrilled, “I’m going to state the obvious: it’s a great win.” He later added, “How many times we, and a lot of other teams, have come in here and gone home without a win? It definitely is a good win for our program.”

Jared Sullinger led the Buckeyes, scoring 13 of Ohio State’s first 17 points on his way to a 24 point, 10 rebound game. Deshaun Thomas played well too, scoring 16 points to go along with six rebounds (four of which came off the offensive glass). William Buford struggled mightily, going 4-15 from the floor for just 11 points, but the only senior on the team made the biggest play of the game.

Wisconsin had snatched Ohio State’s momentum away and ignited the crowd with a 7-2 run late in the game. The Buckeyes led just 51-50 with under three minutes to play when Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor threw an errant pass that was picked off by Jared Sullinger. Coach Matta then called for a play that would give Buford, who was just 3-14 from the field at this point, a wide open look from three. Craft set it up perfectly, screened Buford’s defender and the senior drilled a clutch 3-pointer to give Ohio State a 54-50 lead with 2:27 to go.

Matta talked about Buford’s big three after the game, “It was designed. We felt like with Jared coming under, Gasser was going to stay home and help, and Will came up and drove his legs,” Matta said. “It was obviously a big-time shot. I’ve got great faith in William and that was a big, big time shot for us.”

Wisconsin never recovered. Their final six possessions of the game (following Buford’s three) produced just one basket, three missed shots and two turnovers. The Buckeyes were able to convert at the free throw line to put the game away -- giving Ohio State its first victory over the Badgers in their last 10 trips to Wisconsin.

The whole team was ecstatic after the victory, “It was kind of big because no one ever won here,” Buford said. “This is my last time coming here. Of course, I wanted to get the win, and coach Matta, I’ve never seen him so happy.”

The first half started with Ohio State’s intentions clear as day -- get it to Sullinger. The big man made his first three shots and scored Ohio State’s first nine points as his teammates consistently forced the ball down low. An early foul on Craft forced him to the bench, but freshman Shannon Scott came in and played well on defense and committed no turnovers while commanding the offense.

Both teams went back and forth -- there were five lead changes in the first five minutes of the game -- but an 8-0 Wisconsin run put the Badgers up 18-15. When Ohio State needed an answer, they went through Sullinger and he delivered. Thomas and Sullinger, the only two who performed at a decent level in the first half, helped the Buckeyes respond with a 9-4 run of their own. On the other end Wisconsin went ice-cold from behind the arch, missing 11 consecutive 3-pointers to close the half. The Buckeyes capitalized and took a 28-24 lead into the locker room at half time.

Jared Berggren, Sullinger’s primary defender, talked about Jared’s big first half, “I let him get a couple of easy ones early, and that set the tone,” Berggren said. “A great player like him, once he gets a little bit of confidence, he’s hard to stop. A lot of it came early on. I let him get going. I’ve got to take a little blame myself for that one.”

The Buckeyes were able to keep Wisconsin at bay for most of the second half. The Badgers continued to struggle shooting the ball and had missed 15 straight 3-pointers before Berggren finally connected on one five minutes into the half. That three had cut Ohio State’s lead to one, but it fueled a stretch where Ohio State created and maintained a six point lead for a long stretch. That six point lead held up until the Badgers ran off five unanswered to make it a 51-50 game. That was when Buford effectively ended the game with his huge 3-pointer, Ohio State’s first and only of the game.

Instead of rehashing the pain from last year’s loss, Sullinger was focused on this year and this win, “What happened last year is last year. We won, and that was the main goal.”

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