Last night's 94-92 overtime win was a big victory for Head Coach Bo Ryan and the Wisconsin Badger men's basketball team.
It might be Ryan's 397th career victory, but that is not why it is huge.
The victory over a team in the Top 10 in the Ratings Percentage Index might not mean anything in terms of the NCAA Tournament hopes of the Badgers.
It will help, but probably not enough to get UW in. Then again, it might.
However, there is much more than what appears on the surface.
If one remembers back to a Dec. 3 game against the Temple Owls, one saw the Badgers play a similar game that had Wisconsin losing in double-overtime against the Owls.
While Ohio State did not have a player that single-handedly kept it in the contest as senior guard Lynn Greer did for the Owls, the Buckeyes matched the Badgers shot for shot. At the time, this young team was still struggling and going through some growing pains.
Things looked even more bleak after last week's showing, where the Badgers hit the road to Northwestern and Michigan and lost both games to fall back to 5-5 and back in the pack of the Big Ten Conference.
But the game last night showed the maturity of this squad.
Getting off to a good start, the Badgers kept in the game and trailed by one, 39-38, at the half.
Connecting on some three-pointers early coming out of the break, Wisconsin retook the lead and extended it to 10.
With the Badgers still holding a sizable lead against the Buckeyes, Ohio State made its expected run and managed to tie the game at the end of regulation.
Unlike the Temple contest, where UW missed critical free throws down the stretch that could have given them a two-possession game, the Badgers were solid on the line, connecting on 36 of 46 shots.
In addition, when the pressure was on Wisconsin, they responded as most of those makes came during critical situations.
Surprisingly, the calm Badgers hitting the key free throws were not senior forward Charlie Wills or senior guard Travon Davis.
Rather, it was freshman forward Mike Wilkinson and freshman guard Devin Harris that stepped up to the line and hit clutch free throws.
In fact, Wilkinson was 13 of 16, while Harris scored all 10 of his points in the second half and overtime, including five in the final 20 seconds to secure the victory.
And all of this came after he was benched early with two quick fouls in five minutes of the opening half.
With a 6-5 record and three home games remaining the Badgers, who are 9-1 at the Kohl Center this season, still have the goal of making it back to the NCAA Tournament.
Regardless of if it happens, as this year is a down year for the traditionally powerful Big Ten Conference, this one game on a February evening represents something more than a victory for the Badgers.
It represents a lesson learned.
