Fifth-year forward Jamison Battle takes a fadeaway jump shot during the second half of Ohio State’s 71-60 loss to No. 15 Wisconsin at the Schottenstein Center Wednesday. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor
A rough shooting night in the second half became the Buckeyes worst nightmare Wednesday night.
After entering halftime down by two, Ohio State (12-4, 2-3 Big Ten) found themselves in a shooting slump in the second period, resulting in a late-game 71-60 collapse against the Big Ten-dominant No. 15 Wisconsin Badgers (12-3, 4-0 Big Ten) at Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center.
The Badgers outscored Ohio State 19-4 during the final 5:16 to play, which included a 10-0 Wisconsin run.
“It’s the physicality that they bring, and I think that’s what ultimately led to our pitfall and led to our downfall,” fifth-year forward Jamison Battle said. “But in the end, I think we can be just as physical as any team like Wisconsin and in the Big Ten as well.”
Battle and sophomore guard Bruce Thornton got the Buckeye offense rolling early and often as the two combined for the team’s first 11 points.
With 7:51 to go, Battle drilled a fadeaway 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, sending the crowd into a frenzy. This gave Ohio State a 25-17 lead — its largest of the game.
Despite leading in the first half for just under 17 minutes, the Buckeyes went into the break trailing 35-33 thanks to a Badger 3-pointer with 46 seconds to go.
Battle, however, had a team-high 14 points at halftime.
Wisconsin got on the board first out of the break, only taking 19 seconds to increase its lead to 37-33.
Ohio State was looking for a spark and sophomore center Felix Okpara did just that for the Buckeyes.
With 10:35 to play, Okpara secured an offensive rebound, put the ball right back up, made the shot and drew the foul. He made the foul shot, bringing Ohio State within one and reinvigorating the Buckeyes energy.
Going the other way, the Badgers grabbed an offensive rebound of their own and tried to replicate Okpara by putting the ball right back up. Okpara had other plans.
He blocked the shot and freshman guard Scotty Middleton hit a 3-pointer on the other end, giving the Buckeyes a 2-point lead, and that’s when Badgers’ head coach Greg Gard called a timeout.
Wisconsin was then fouled by Ohio State on back-to-back possessions, giving the Badgers four free throws in which they went 4-for-4.
Not only could the Buckeyes not get any shots to fall, but they couldn’t quite capitalize on free throws either. Overall from the line, Wisconsin shot 90% compared to Ohio State’s 40%, a statistic that head coach Chris Holtmann said cost the Buckeyes gravely.
“We didn’t make shots for one, missed a couple free throws, I think those were critical,” Holtmann said. “I thought some of our looks were really good to be honest with you, and then we probably had two breakdowns defensively. But I just think [we’ve] got to be able to make some of those clean, easy looks.”
Out of a timeout, with under seven minutes to go, Middleton made a jump shot, followed by an Okpara jumper, increasing the Buckeye lead to four.
Ohio State would go on to only score an additional 4 points for the remainder of the game, compared to the Badgers’ 19, which Holtmann said was the difference down the stretch.
“I really do think the challenge for us now as coaches and players is to learn from this,” Holtmann said. “Take some of the positives that were real in this right now, feel the disappointment and have that challenge us to be better in the areas that we need to be better in.”
Ohio State will look to get back in the win column as it travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to face off against its rivals, the Wolverines, Monday. The game will begin at noon and will be broadcast on FOX.
