Sophomore forward E.J. Liddell surveys the defense during the Ohio State-Purdue game on Jan. 19. Ohio State lost 65-67. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Following a disappointing defeat Tuesday, the Buckeyes responded with one of their best wins of the season Saturday.
No. 15 Ohio State (12-4, 6-4) let Tuesday’s game against Purdue slip away in the final seconds, but the Buckeyes never trailed Saturday en route to downing No. 10 Wisconsin (12-4, 6-3) 74-62. Sophomore forward E.J. Liddell, who tallied a career-high 26 points Jan. 26, poured in 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting to help the Buckeyes hand the Badgers their second loss at home on the season.
“I thought our players, from the jump, really grabbed a hold of this thing and couldn’t be more proud of our group,” head coach Chris Holtmann said.
The opening half was defined by the Buckeyes digging in on defense and holding the Badgers to 33.3-percent shooting. Wisconsin entered the game shooting 44.2 percent from the field on the year.
The Badgers finished the game with a shooting percentage of 40 percent.
Although they found more success shooting the ball in the first half, the Buckeyes shared in the Badgers’ struggles to knock down shots from the outside.
Ohio State and Wisconsin combined to go 5-of-23 from the outside in the opening 20 minutes.
The Buckeyes ultimately held the advantage at the end of the game as they knocked down 31.3 percent of their 3-point shots.
Holtmann said Wisconsin’s poor shooting on the outside was caused by a combination of an off night and the Buckeyes playing good defense.
“When you get ahead of a team, sometimes those shots are a little more difficult, so I think us jumping to a couple-possession lead there early was important, because throughout the game just puts game pressure on those shots,” Holtmann said.
One of the few players to find the bottom of the net from long range in the first half was junior guard Duane Washington Jr.
Despite riding a six-game hot streak in which he averaged 17.7 points per game on 44.8 percent shooting, Washington could not get in a rhythm in the first half — finishing the first 20 minutes with more turnovers than shots made.
Washington finished the game with 9 points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Graduate forward Seth Towns provided an offensive boost for the Buckeyes off the bench.
Notching a season-high 11 points on three different occasions, Towns finished the game with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Redshirt senior point guard CJ Walker returned from his right hand injury. Walker, who played 24 minutes and finished with 8 points and three assists, had missed the previous four games for the Buckeyes.
Wisconsin redshirt senior guard D’Mitrik Trice’s 9 points kept the Badgers in the game in the opening half.
Averaging 14.8 points per game, the Ohio native finished the game with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting to go along with four rebounds and eight assists.
In order to close out the wire-to-wire win, Liddell said it took a team-first mindset.
“It took everybody to stay connected and just be together as a unit, instead of everybody becoming individuals,” Liddell said. “They had their run, No. 2 hit three big threes in a row, and we just had to stay together.”
Ohio State won’t play again until Jan. 31 when Michigan State comes to town. The game is set to tip off at 1 p.m.
This story was updated Saturday at 8:32 p.m. with quotes from Chris Holtmann and E.J. Liddell.
