There was a stretch early in the second half where No. 23 Ohio State looked like it would threaten to tie or take the lead against sixth-ranked Wisconsin.
But then the Badgers played perhaps their best display of basketball all season.
Once Ohio State closed Wisconsin’s lead down to 46-39 just over midway through the second half, the Badgers responded with fury, racking up a 16-0 run to dominate the Buckeyes in their regular season finale 72-48 Sunday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio.
Earlier in the second half Wisconsin (28-3, 16-2 Big Ten) pushed its lead to 17 at 44-27 with 18:05 left in the game after a Nigel Hayes three. Ohio State (22-9, 11-7 Big Ten) then cut that lead to just seven points after a 12-2 run. It was the closest Ohio State had been since the 11:16 mark in the first half.
But Wisconsin quickly put an end to any hope the Buckeyes had of coming back to pull off the upset. Sophomore guard Bronson Koenig hit back-to-back threes for Wisconsin to put its lead back to 13. The second three came after the Badgers hauled in three straight offensive rebounds on one possession.
After Koenig’s second three-pointer, the Badgers scored the next 10 points of the game and stretched their lead to 23 at 62-39 with 7:28 remaining in the game. The 23-point deficit was the largest of the season for the Buckeyes.
Kaminsky finished the game with a game-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting. The National Player of the Year candidate also recorded five rebounds and three assists. Koenig finished with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Junior forward Sam Dekker chipped in 10 points for Wisconsin with eight rebounds.
The Badgers shot 50 percent as a team, going 31-of-62 overall and 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from three. It was the third-straight game that Wisconsin has shot at least 50 percent overall.
Ohio State’s stellar freshman D’Angelo Russell scored a team-high 17 points for the Buckeyes while Jae’Sean Tate (13) and Shannon Scott (10) rounded out the Ohio State players in double-figures.
The Buckeyes shot just 34 percent overall and only 20 percent from three.
In the first half, eight players scored for Wisconsin, with Kaminsky leading the way with a game-high eight points. He also added four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Duje Dukan came off the bench and had seven first half points on 3-of-6 shooting for Wisconsin. It was the most points the senior forward had scored in a game since he had eight against Iowa on Jan. 20.
Sophomore forward Vitto Brown added four points and redshirt sophomore guard Zak Showalter contributed three to give the Badgers some much needed bench scoring, while Kaminsky sat out after picking up a foul. Wisconsin’s 12 bench points in the first half were more than the bench had scored in the last five games combined (11).
Dukan, Brown and Showalter helped Wisconsin go on a 21-7 run to pull ahead 28-12 – its largest lead of the game at the time – with 8:29 left in the first half before taking a 37-23 advantage at halftime.
The Badgers shot over 50 percent (15-of-29) in the opening half while Ohio State shot just 28.6 percent (8-of-38). Russell was held to only five points on 2-of-8 shooting in the first half.
Wisconsin will now enter postseason play with the Big Ten tournament beginning Wednesday at the United Center in Chicago. The Badgers, having already clinched the number one seed in the tournament after a road win at Minnesota Thursday, will play the winner of Illinois and Michigan Friday at 11 a.m.
