SPORTS
Ohio State’s Dials, Wisconsin’s Tucker go head-to-head
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Also by Aaron Brenner:
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- Wisconsin loses shot to defend title (March 19, 2007)
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- Wisconsin looks to rebound in Columbus (February 25, 2005)
- Perimeter shooting woes doom OSU comeback attempt (February 28, 2005)
by Aaron Brenner
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Wisconsin's Alando Tucker and Ohio State's Terence Dials each scored their respective team's first points.
From there, it was officially a one-on-one, mano a mano battle of the big guys on the Kohl Center hardwood, and UW came out on top.
As the Badgers fought off a nine-point first-half deficit to upend the No. 12 Buckeyes 78-73, the timing of each player's success seemed to mirror that of his team.
Dials opened with a dozen points in the first half, including Ohio State's first six. The fifth-year senior connected on all five of his field goal attempts and a pair of foul shots, guiding his team to a 37-28 lead at the break.
"He did a good job of getting his positioning where he wanted, and we did a good job of getting him the ball," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said of Dials' performance.
However, the final 20 minutes may have settled any debate over who is the more dominant player in the Big Ten this season. Tucker shot 6-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-7 from the line, amounting to 17 second-half points. The junior forward ended up leading all players with 27 points for the game.
Tucker also had a monstrous night on the glass, pulling down eight boards in each half for a game-high 16 rebounds.
"They do a great job of screening and getting him inside," Matta said. "The hard part is that he's always in rebounding position. He uses his body well, and he's deceivingly more athletic and quicker than he appears.
"He made big plays tonight, he stepped up."
The defining moment of the game — and the matchup between Tucker and Dials — came with 1:33 left in the game. Dials, who was held scoreless for the final 12:35 of the contest, drove towards the basket for a lay-in that would have pulled the Buckeyes within two points of the Badgers. But Tucker swooped in and blocked the 6-foot-9 Dials' attempt, and ended up picking up the rebound as well.
"He didn't look like he was going to dunk it, so I figured I would step in and just try to alter his shot," Tucker said. "I saw he was taking it up softer than he was the past couple of plays, so I just figured I'd challenge it."
It was Dials' final shot of the game, and UW was able to pull away with the victory with free throws from Tucker and sophomores Brian Butch and Michael Flowers.
However, while Tucker and Dials each turned in great stat lines, it was the play of the Badgers surrounding the former that made the difference in the end. Three other UW players added double-digit point contributions.
Butch shot 6-of-9 in the game, leading the supporting charge with 17 points. Meanwhile, senior Ray Nixon hit three clutch shots from beyond the arc, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the second half. Sophomore Kammron Taylor had a quieter game with 12 points.
"I've seen a lot of good teams that had a couple of scorers that were pretty prolific, and then the other guys chipped in, they didn't necessarily have to have great numbers," UW head coach Bo Ryan said. "If they're going to double, if they're going to get some help somewhere [else], you have to be ready to offensively be a threat. It's all about being opportunistic."
One of Wisconsin's greater successes was the ability to beat Ohio State under the basket. The Badgers out-rebounded OSU 38-27, thanks to Tucker's 16, junior Jason Chappell's seven, and Flowers' five boards in the game.
"Those guys have had a lot of put-backs, so for us to be able to keep them off the glass and to out-rebound them, especially on the offensive boards, that's the difference in the game," Ryan said.
Tucker said the combined efforts of everybody on the UW team was what allowed the Badgers to chip away at Ohio State's lead and solidify the Badgers as Big Ten title contenders.
"We finally put everything together, this is what we have been talking about game after game, when we [get down] in the first half, we have to fight through that," Tucker said. "If we can fight through those times, and then come back with a surge of our own, we'll always be in the game, because we've got guys stepping up."
