Wisconsin hands Ohio State Basketball their second Big Ten loss of the season. Not a lot went right for the Buckeyes, but let’s narrow it down to three takeaways.
Ohio State Basketball came into Madison ranked #16 in the country with a 10-3 record and 4-1 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin entered at #13 in the rankings with a 13-2 record and also 4-1 in conference play.
The Badgers went wire to wire to avenge their loss in Columbus back in early December by defeating the Buckeyes 78-68. Most things went right for Wisconsin and not a lot went Ohio State’s way in a tough road game. Here are three takeaways from the Buckeyes loss at Wisconsin.
1. Buckeyes took too long to show up
When you play on the road in college basketball and especially in the Big Ten against a top 25 team you have to come out guns blazing. Unfortunately for Ohio State in this game, they started the game unorganized on both ends of the floor looking sloppy, slow, lazy, and uninterested as the Badgers won almost every 50-50 ball in the first half taking a 40-27 lead over the Buckeyes into halftime. That was the first 40 point first half by Wisconsin this season. So right off the jump the Buckeyes had to play from far behind on the road.
2. Ohio State goes as goes EJ Liddell
Scoring in the first half for OSU was tough. They shot 43% from the field and were 0-8 from beyond the three-point line. Their star player EJ Liddell didn’t have any luck either and that is one of the reasons they couldn’t anything going. He couldn’t score and they couldn’t play through him in any way.
Liddell only had four points at the half. The Buckeyes got as close as six in the second half and that just so happened to be on the shoulders of EJ Liddell as he ended the game with a team-high 18 as he started getting hot which helped get his team back in the ball game late in the second half.
It’s just another game that proves when all things are tough to come by he needs to take the ball and make things happen to keep his team close and lead them to victory on tough nights, especially on the road.
3. Poor three-point shooting and double-digit turnovers is a bad recipe
It’s really hard winning in the Big Ten, arguably one of, if not the toughest basketball conference in college basketball. It becomes close to impossible in today’s landscape of the sport when you shoot poorly from beyond the arc and add in not taking care of the ball. As mentioned earlier the Buckeyes were 0-8 from three-point land in the first half. It didn’t get much better after halftime as they finished 3-19 for 15.8% from out there.
I know they say you should shoot yourself out of a slump, but at some point, you have to realize it isn’t your night and abandon the three and work an in and out game or spread it out and let the athletes make plays and create to get to the basket and the free throw line. The Buckeyes did neither of those consistently throughout this game.
You always want to limit your turnovers in any game, but when you’re in a tough environment to a ranked team you’d like to realistically stay in the single digits in the turnover category. Ohio State made multiple terrible entries passes to the post in the first half that were either thrown out of bounds or were stolen by the defense.
Then in the second half, they remained quite sloppy with the ball as Wisconsin stayed active on the defensive end, and because of that OSU finished with 11 turnovers to the nine by the Badgers. It’s to be noted that Head Coach of the Buckeyes Chris Holtmann was back on the sideline after being out in the health and safety protocol. Meechie Johnson however had to sit this one out due to injury, so they missed his range, ability to stretch the floor, and defensive talent.
Ohio State will have to clean this all up and figure it out in the next day or two. They have a quick turnaround as the Buckeyes play again this Sunday back in Columbus against the Penn State Nittany Lions whom they also defeated 76-64 back in early December as well. The tip-off for that game is currently scheduled for Noon.