Ohio State graduate forward Kyle Young (25) waits for the ball to be thrown in by Wisconsin during the Ohio State-Wisconsin game Saturday. Ohio State won 73-55. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
No. 21 Ohio State has come a long way since its early season struggles in crashing the boards, pulling down a season-high 49 rebounds — 21 more than No. 22 Wisconsin.
This effort by Buckeye bigs limited the Badgers’ second-chance opportunities which have hurt Ohio State earlier in the season.
“We just didn’t want to give them second-chance efforts,” junior forward E.J. Liddell said. “We want to play good defense in the half court and I felt like we did that tonight. Boxed out, everybody, all five guys on the glass, nobody leaked out and we wanted it more.”
Thirty-two seconds into the second half, freshman guard Chucky Hepburn knocked down the first shot for the Badgers, before the team went on a freezing cold 0-for-11 stretch from the field that spanned almost five minutes.
In that same time, Wisconsin only grabbed three offensive rebounds, coming down with just five on the day — the lowest Ohio State has allowed in 2021.
The Buckeyes can thank the efforts of graduate forward Kyle Young who came down with a career-high 14 boards, as Liddell and sophomore forward Zed Key added nine rebounds each.
Ohio State’s trio of forwards outrebounded Wisconsin by themselves, marking the first time this season three different players recorded at least nine rebounds in a game.
The Badgers shot 33.8 percent from the field, missing 43 of their 65 shot attempts.
“Well, when we shoot 33 percent, there’s a lot of misses to go get,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said. “Kyle Young, he’s rebounded well since the day he stepped foot on campus, that’s not a surprise. Guys like him gobble up 14.”
This is a turnaround from Ohio State’s struggles earlier in the year, being outrebounded in four games this year, including both losses.
Limiting opponents’ offensive rebounds has been a point of emphasis for the Buckeyes recently, holding their opposition under 10 offensive boards in four-consecutive games now. Teams grabbed at least 11 offensive rebounds in five of the first six, which resulted in 59 second-chance points.
When Wisconsin did come down with a rebound after a miss, it did nothing with its opportunities, putting back only one successful bucket.
After Saturday, the Buckeyes are outrebounding opponents 362-325, led by the same big three that paced them today with Liddell hauling in 72, Young at 60 and Key with 54.
However, they have a tough test ahead of them in No. 10 Kentucky, which has hauled in 152 more misses than its opponents. The Wildcats are led by 6-foot-9 junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe.
But, head coach Chris Holtmann is not worried about anybody’s size, saying that people “tend to make a big deal out of big guys.”
“That was a major key, was keeping them off the glass,” Holtmann said. “You always worry about that in a zone [defense]; I thought our zone helped us.”
