The Badger Herald

SPORTS

UW back on top with win over OSU

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Also by Ben Voelkel:

Badgers in Big Ten mix (February 22, 2008)
Badgers dis-'Assemble' Illini (February 21, 2008)
Flowers takes medical leave (October 19, 2007)
Stingy defense shuts down Minnesota's offensive attack (February 18, 2008)
Bank's open: Polar Bear cashes in late (February 14, 2008)

by Ben Voelkel

Monday, February 25, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio — That was the ending they were hoping for last time.

A year after having its conference championship hopes dashed on the very same court, the Wisconsin basketball team stayed atop the Big Ten race with a 58-53 win over Ohio State at the Value City Arena Sunday.

“That was a great win for us,” guard Jason Bohannon said. “Ohio State played pretty good today. … For us to come in here and get a victory was pretty good.”

Bohannon led all scorers with 16 points and Michael Flowers added 14 as the Badgers (23-4, 13-2 Big Ten) overcame 12 first-half turnovers to hand the Buckeyes (17-10, 8-6) their second consecutive loss.

Marcus Landry narrowly missed his second double-double of the season with a 10 point, nine rebound effort for 10th-ranked UW.

Wisconsin took what had been a back-and-forth defensive struggle between UW’s man-to-man and OSU’s 3-2 zone and created some separation for itself midway through the second half.

Trailing by two after Jon Diebler made his only 3-pointer of the game, the Badgers used their balanced offense to go on a 9-0 run that saw no UW player contributing more than one field goal.

The spurt was started by Flowers, who leaped high at midcourt to intercept a pass from Ohio State’s Jamar Butler and then went in for a layup that eventually fell in after nearly coming to rest on the back of the rim.

“I have never looked up and seen a guy that size that high up in the air. … What a great read,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “And that was a big play.”

The next UW possession, Flowers found Bohannon open for one of the guard’s four 3-pointers. After Brian Butch made a mid-range jumper off an assist from Tim Jarmusz, Landry finished off the run with two free throws with 5:08 to play.

As it turned out, the Badgers would need just about every one of those points, as their next points came on Landry’s breakaway dunk to put the game away with 11 seconds left.

The Buckeyes picked up the pressure defensively, bringing back the full-court trap used in the first half and swarming around the ball to try to create turnovers. While the Badgers were able to deal with the zone, limiting their turnovers to just three in the second half, at times they struggled to get off a good shot.

“They even got more aggressive those last five minutes,” Landry said. “They picked up their defense even more. … You have to make the right decision at the right time or else something bad might happen or you might not get the shot you want.”

But just as Wisconsin struggled to score at the end of the game, so too did Ohio State. After drawing to within three points with 3:18 to go on two Butler free throws, the Buckeyes couldn’t score the rest of the way. Included in that drought were two missed layups that forward Brian Butch was able to alter.

“I was just trying to be strong more than anything, and be big,” Butch said. “I’m 6’-11”, and just try and get the ball.”

“The first one on (OSU forward Matt) Terwilliger I just got a good block on and got the rebound. Then (Evan) Turner tried taking it in and got a little piece of it. I didn’t try to jump and block that one; usually that’s when you get a foul called.”

In total, Ohio State missed its last five shots and was not able to come completely back.

“I think we won the first war, and then towards the middle to the end of the second half they were up seven and I think that’s where we could never recover from,” Terwilliger said.

After trailing by as many as seven early on, Wisconsin was tied with Ohio State 32-32 at the end of a sloppy opening half. Wisconsin turned the ball over 12 times in the first 20 minutes of play, nearly matching its season average for a complete game. The Buckeyes were also careless with the ball, losing possession 10 times.

The Buckeyes at times extended their 3-2 zone to a full-court trapping zone to bother the Badgers, and it got to two of UW’s more reliable ball handlers. Michael Flowers and Joe Krabbenhoft each contributed three turnovers to the total.

Wisconsin took the upper hand early thanks to an 8-2 run to open the game. But Ohio State stormed back, eliminating the deficit with a 15-4 run to take a seven-point lead — its largest of the game — with just under eight minutes left at 19-12.

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