For the first time in Thad Matta’s career, the Buckeyes left Madison with a spring in their step.
Now in his eighth year as head coach of No. 3 Ohio State (20-3, 8-2 Big Ten), Matta’s team finally exorcised the demons of the Kohl Center Saturday, defeating No. 20 Wisconsin (18-6, 7-4 Big Ten) by a score of 58-52.
It’s also the first time the Buckeyes have won at the Kohl Center at all since January 2000.
“I’m going to state the obvious: It’s a great win because I think when you look at Wisconsin basketball, it has withstood the test of time,” Matta said. “How many times we and a lot of other teams have come in here and gone home without a win, it definitely is a good win for our program.”
The loss dropped Wisconsin to a tie for third place in the Big Ten and reaffirmed Ohio State’s position as the conference leader – which otherwise could have been drawn into a tie for first place had it lost.
Star forward Jared Sullinger led the way for the Buckeyes, hitting 8 of 16 shots for 24 points while grabbing 10 rebounds – five offensive.
He was backed up by Deshaun Thomas and William Buford, who scored 16 and 11 points with each earning six rebounds apiece.
Buford, a 43.3 percent field goal shooter heading into Saturday’s contest, had a bit of an off day, hitting only 4 of 15 shots. Nevertheless, it was he who Matta turned to late in the game with the lead hanging in the balance.
In less than two minutes’ time, Wisconsin whittled down Ohio State’s seven-point lead to just one with 3:46 remaining, thanks to a three-point play from Jordan Taylor, two baskets from Ryan Evans and a 3-pointer from Mike Bruesewitz.
Bruesewitz’s three brought the Kohl Center audience of 17,230 into a frenzy, but the Buckeyes then immediately called a timeout. In the huddle, OSU drew up a play to get the ball in Buford’s hands behind the perimeter.
Ohio State was 0-for-6 from three-point land at the time, but no matter: Two possessions later, Buford hit the three with 2:47 left, and Wisconsin never came within four points again.
It lived on as Ohio State’s only 3-pointer of the day.
“It was designed and we felt like, with Jared [Sullinger] coming under, [UW guard Josh] Gasser was going to stay home and help and Will came up and … it was a big time shot,” Matta said. “I’ve got great faith in Will.”
Evans led the Badgers with 14 points and 7 of 14 shots in the process, while Bruesewitz chipped in with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor added another 12, while Jared Berggren scored 10.
Despite OSU’s lack of 3-point power, the Buckeyes converted 43.1 percent of their field goals Saturday, along with 13 of 16 free throws falling inside the rim. That made it pretty difficult for the Badgers, who shot 40 percent on the day, from catching up.
Wisconsin hit just five of 27 3-pointers and earned a mere three attempts at the line. Ohio State cleaned up rebounds as well, topping Wisconsin 32-28.
UW last had the lead with just more than four minutes gone at the start of the game, but 10 points off turnovers in the first half, compared to OSU’s zero, helped the Badgers keep the deficit consistently between one and four points.
But at that time it was Sullinger who the Buckeyes were riding on. He had 16 points at halftime – on 6-for-8 shooting – and had no fouls to his name. Only two other Buckeyes had scored baskets.
Sullinger was at it from the first possession for OSU, scoring the team’s first nine points.
“At the start of the game, didn’t do a good job of limited his touches; let him get a couple easy ones early and it set the tone from there,” said UW forward Jared Berggren, who spent the majority of the afternoon guarding Sullinger. “A great player like him, once he gets a little bit of confidence, he’s hard to stop.
“A lot of it came early on, I let him get going and I got to take a little blame, myself.”
Wisconsin eventually lost that points-off-turnovers advantage in the second half with OSU outscoring UW 9-5 in that regard. With threes not falling and players failing to get to the line, Wisconsin’s scoring outlets shrank and Ohio State was able to maintain a lead that fluctuated between four and seven points for the majority of the second half.
When Wisconsin did get to within one point, it earned a possession one more time before Buford’s three. But despite the chance to take the lead, Taylor turned the ball over.
And in the wake of what followed, the Badgers could hardly muster any more offense after Buford’s three. The final two and a half minutes saw UW miss two 3-pointers and commit two more turnovers.
“I think I had my turnover and then Buford’s three was a pretty key sequence in the game going forward,” Taylor said. “It was kind of a big momentum swing, but we just didn’t execute.”
