MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin’s efficient offense has made close games mostly nonexistent. Sitting somewhere around the midpoint of the season, the Badgers entered the night having played four two possession games.

Call it a silver lining on a night where the offense struggled with rhythm and flow that No.24 Wisconsin found a way to carve out a sixth consecutive victory.

“It’s Division-1 basketball; you’re not going to blow every team out,” said graduate center Steven Crowl (14 points), as UW saw its 17-point halftime lead cut to one late. “Even if you get up big, we know they are going to make their run. It’s just about weathering it.”

Good teams find their way when they’re not at their best. That was Gard’s quip after the game and reflects where the Badgers (14-3, 4-2 Big Ten) find themselves before their West Coast swing, a good team that could take more sizeable jumps forward in the games to come.

Here are my takeaways from the Kohl Center.

Having a program lead the nation in free throw shooting is a great thing to lean on down the stretch of a close game. How ironic that one of its emerging players had trouble making the ones he needed to make and missing the one he needed to miss.

John Blackwell’s struggles on three of his free throws in the final 15 seconds aside, the Badgers looked like a team in control at the end of a half where things often seemed to be spiraling out of it.

Down three entering the final 20 seconds and having the option to hold for the final shot, Ohio State opted to take the two on Micah Parrish’s driving layup with 16.7 seconds remaining.

Choosing to foul the best free-throw shooting team in the country, Blackwell (15 points) missed the front end of the bonus, but the rebound bounced to Kamari McGee (9 points), who sank both free throws with 11.8 seconds remaining.

Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton and John Tonje countered free throws, and UW fouled John Mobley with 3.7 seconds left to prevent the tying three-pointer.

“We haven’t been in one of those in a while,” Gard said, referring to the fouling. “We practiced it a few times. I think inbounding the ball makes me more nervous in those situations than making free throws or executing the foul at the right time.”

The plan nearly worked but Blackwell missed the first free throw with 1.5 seconds left, forcing more chess plays. In the final 16 seconds, Gard made seven substitutions to get the right personnel on the floor for offense or defense.

“It’s good throughout the season to see a whole bunch of different games and have scenarios to look back on,” Tonje said. “We’re trying to make a run. It’s good to know that any lead, you can’t sit on. Teams at this level always come back it seems like.”

“There’s things we did correctly down the stretch and things we didn’t do as well as we needed to do,” added Gard. “All these experiences are good, regardless of the age of the player who is in them. I think it’s going to help us as we go forward, knowing we’ll be in situations like that down the road.”

Ohio State shot 51.6 percent in the second half, resulting from Wisconsin letting Thornton get comfortable generating high-percentage looks off the ball screen.

Even with the lapses, the Badgers’ defense in the first half made the numbers grade out respectable. Ohio State scored only 20 points in the first half, matching the fewest by any opponent this season and the fewest by UW in a Big Ten game in nearly three years.

It was a choppy first half. There was only one stretch longer than 2:46 without a foul called in the first half, including four fouls called in the minute leading into the under-8 timeout. The whistles seemed to bother the Buckeyes a lot more than the hosts.

Wisconsin continued its strong growth of defensive improvement by cutting off the Buckeyes’ three-point strength and suffocating their three double-digit scorers.

Thornton (17.1 points per game), Devin Royal (13.9), and John Mobley Jr. (12.2) were held to 4 for 14 with nine points. The trio’s six turnovers led to UW scoring nine points of its own, the last two coming when Tonje jumped Thornton’s pass and flushed a dunk on the other end.

While Thornton ended up getting his points, Royal (12) and Mobley (8) had to work, as well as Parrish (3-for-13). Royal had to deal with Carter Gilmore most of the night, as Gard leaned into the fifth-year senior’s experience.

It was the fourth time this season Ohio State has been held to no more than 20 points in the opening half.

So, while the Buckeyes got into an offensive flow, the Badgers still limited their looks from the perimeter. Shooting 21.5 three-pointers per game and making 8.1, Ohio State was 5-for-17 from the three-point arc.

“Defensively, we’ve made strides,” Gard said. “Individually guys have gotten better, and they understand collectively how we need to play to be a good defensive team.”

It’s hard to look at Wisconsin's rotation and not see a returning player who has taken a noticeable leap forward through the first half of the season. Part of that is the development and work put in during the offseason. Another part must be from the impact of a player like Tonje working within the offense.

Tonje only made three field goals, but they were some of the most critical ones of the game. He delivered two rim-rocking dunks that injected some life into a muted building. His three-pointer pushed the lead to three possessions with 4:17 remaining.

More importantly, he took advantage of Ohio State reaching on his drives to the rim. The graduate senior tied with Crowl and Blackwell for fouls drawn (five) and went 10-for-10 from the line. He has made at least 10 free throws in four games this season and is shooting 93.6 percent (117-for-125) from the line.

“Getting the advantage on the defense and forcing them to foul me, I’m trying to score and get hot by seeing the ball go through the hoop,” Tonje said. “A lot of times they came in on me and just put them at a disadvantage that they have to foul me.”

5 – Wisconsin’s five three-pointers tied a season-low (5 vs. Pittsburgh). The Badgers’ 27.3 three-point percentage was their fourth-lowest of the season.

14 – With his seven rebounds, Crowl became the 14th Big Ten player (since 1986-87) to reach 1,200 points, 750 rebounds, and 255 assists in a career. Despite it being his fifth year, Crowl reached that milestone the sixth fastest at 132 games.

27 – Wisconsin finished 25-for-28 from the line and has won 27 consecutive games when making at least 25 free throws, dating back to the 2009-10 season.

92.9 - Neither team caught fire offensively in the first half (Wisconsin was 11-for-25 and Ohio State was 9-for-28) but the Badgers drew 12 fouls and punished the Buckeyes at the foul line. Leading by 17 at the break, Wisconsin was 13 for 14 (92.9 percent) from the free-throw line while Ohio State was 1 for 1.

200 – With a head coaching record of 200-110 (.645), Gard joined mentor Bo Ryan in the 200-win club, along with former UW coaches Walter Meanwell and Bud Foster.

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @_Perko_, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook