STAT PACK: No.10 Wisconsin Struggles Costly, Lose 74-62 to No.15 Ohio State

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin resurrected its 3-point shot too late, resulting in another winnable home game falling by the wayside.

Relying too heavily on its perimeter jump shot, No.10 Wisconsin couldn’t get the outside shots to fall and were unable to slow Ohio State’s momentum off the misses, as the 15th-ranked Buckeyes registered a 74-62 win at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers dropped their second home game of the conference season, (12-4, 6-3 Big Ten), shooting 40.4 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent, (7-for-28), from 3-point range. Ohio State (12-4, 6-4) led by as many as 13 points after making nine of its first 13 shots in the second half.

BadgerBlitz.com takes a closer look at the game in the Stat Pack.

- Wisconsin was led in scoring by Aleem Ford’s 13 points, but the Badgers got 12 points from D’Mitrik Trice and 11 apiece from Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers. It was the first time this season the Badgers lost after putting four players in double figures (9-1).

- Led by forward E.J. Liddell’s 20 points, Ohio State shot 50.9 percent from the field, including 56.0 percent in the second half and 83.3 percent (15-for-18) from the free throw line. Seven players for Ohio State scored at least eight points.

- Wisconsin’s start was rough. Ohio State made its first three shots, the Badgers missed their first three shots, Brad Davison had a 3-pointer wiped off because official Bo Boroski ruled Davison kicked out his right leg to draw contact and Tyler Wahl only played 3:45 before having to sit with two fouls. After the Buckeyes’ set play resulted in a dunk, Wisconsin trailed 11-3.

- Missing three of its first 12 shots, Wisconsin settled for open looks from the perimeter that didn’t fall. UW started 1-for-6 from the perimeter and didn’t make its first post bucket until the 11:35 mark, a 3-point play from Potter that made the score 15-9.

- The first 12 minutes saw Wisconsin in an identity crisis, unable to figure out if the Badgers wanted to be a 3-point shooting team or challenge Ohio State’s height in the low post. The result was uneven possessions where the Badgers would attempt perimeter shots without touching the post or forcing passes into the lane despite heavy traffic. The result was 2-for-11 on 3-pointers and six turnovers in the first 21 UW possessions, putting UW in a 24-13 deficit.

- Wisconsin shot 9-for-27 in the first half, shot 55.6 percent of its shots from the perimeter (making only three) and were inconsistent defending Ohio State’s mid-range game. Pile all that together, however, and the Badgers should have felt fortunate to be down only 32-25 at the break.

- UW looked poised to make a run when Trice his a 3-point shot to cut the lead to six, but Ohio State answered with a 5-0 run to tie its biggest lead at 39-28.

- Justin Ahrens has connected on 50 percent from 3-point range this season (32-64) and has taken just two shots inside the arc this season (1-2). Despite that, the Badgers left him open for a pair of 3-pointers that extended the lead to 13.

- The story for the remainder of the game was the inability to get over the hump. The Badgers started pumping the ball into the low post and scored 14 points in eight possessions off low-post shots and free throws. But after UW cut the lead to six, the Badgers went cold for four minutes and saw the deficit grow back to 10.

- With his team 4-for-21 from 3-point range, Ford hit three 3-pointers and Jonathan Davis hit a jumper to give Wisconsin 11 points in four possessions. It wasn’t enough to put UW in the lead, however, as the Buckeyes followed two of those scores with buckets of their own. When Ford finally missed, Ohio State went on a 6-0 run to push the lead back to 10 with 1:19 left.

- UW had its chance to thwart the run, but Trice – a 77.2 percent free throw shooter – missed a pair and Davis went 1-for-2 from the line after the Badgers forced a steal with under a minute left. That – and Wahl missing a layup - prevented the Badgers from putting any real pressure on the Buckeyes in the final minute.

- Wisconsin hits the road for a two-game road trip starting Wednesday night at Maryland. Tip time is scheduled for 8 p.m.