Ohio State’s men’s basketball team huddles during the Ohio State-Wisconsin game Saturday. Ohio State won 73-55. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
No. 21 Ohio State earned its third ranked win of the season Saturday at the Schottenstein Center, powering past No. 22 Wisconsin 73-55 behind a defensive masterclass by the Buckeyes.
The Badgers (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten) were held to their lowest point total of the season, as Ohio State (8-2, 2-0 Big Ten) took advantage of its stout defense to win its fourth-straight game. Junior forward E.J. Liddell produced his fifth outing with more than 20 points in the win, finishing with a team-high 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting.
Liddell said that as the Buckeyes have gotten better as the season has worn on, they deserve to be in the conversation among the nation’s best.
“When we’re on our stuff, I feel like we’re the best team in the nation, easily,” Liddell said. “When everybody is doing the simple things, making the right plays, taking the right shots, I feel we could be up there with anybody.”
Ohio State’s defense locked in to start the second half, forcing the Badgers to miss 12 of their first 14 shots in the half. Wisconsin shot just 29.4 percent in the second half, including a 15.4 percent clip from 3-point range.
The Badgers scored just 26 points in the second half, while Ohio State’s lead ballooned to as much as 22.
Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann expressed pride at his team’s defensive effort.
“They missed some open ones but I think we forced some tough ones,” Holtmann said. “Our zone helped.”
While the Buckeyes’ offense also struggled to start the second half, connecting on six of its first 17 shots, freshman guard Meechie Johnson Jr. played a key role in pacing Ohio State through the rough patch. Johnson scored six of his total eight points in the second half, behind a pair of key 3-pointers.
Sophomore forward Zed Key was dynamite in the paint during the second half, throwing down two emphatic slams — celebrating with his signature “raise-the-roof” celebration — en route to seven points in the final frame. Key finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
The Buckeyes controlled the glass throughout Saturday’s matinee, out-rebounding the Badgers 49-28. Graduate forward Kyle Young led the Buckeyes on the glass, finishing with a career-high 14 boards.
This was the first time this season in which three Buckeyes finished with nine or more rebounds, as Young, Liddell and Key each reached that threshold.
Liddell pointed to a planned effort to crash the glass as a reason for Ohio State’s dominance on the boards.
“We just didn’t want to give them second-chance efforts. All the time, we’re going to play good defense in the half-court and finish possessions and I feel like we did that tonight,” Liddell said. “All five guys on the glass, nobody leaked out. We wanted it more today.”
It was punch-and-counter for much of the first half, as Ohio State jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Wisconsin used a 14-2 run to stake out an eight-point lead of its own. The Buckeyes countered with a 25-12 run over the final 11:47 in the half to take a 34-29 lead into the half.
Keeping Wisconsin within striking distance in the first half was Ohio State’s inability to control possession, as the Buckeyes gave the ball away 10 times. The Badgers scored nine points off of turnovers in the first half.
Liddell largely paced the Buckeyes’ offense in the first half, dropping 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Liddell’s efforts helped Ohio State shoot 58 percent in the first 20 minutes.
Graduate guard Cedric Russell added an offensive boost in the first half, scoring seven points while hitting all three of his shots.
Like the Buckeyes, Wisconsin was led by a duo of scorers in the first frame. Guards sophomore Johnny Davis and senior Brad Davison combined for 24 of Wisconsin’s 29 first-half points.
Davis finished the game with 24 points on 11-for-22 shooting, while Davison added 13 points while shooting 50 percent beyond the arc.
The Buckeyes take a week-long hiatus before returning to action, playing Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic at 5 p.m. in Las Vegas Dec. 18. The game will be televised on CBS.
