Going on the road and picking up a win in the Big Ten is no easy task. It becomes even more difficult when you are without two of your top reserves and face top-20 team in a must-win situation. This was exactly the hornet's nest the No. 15 Badgers (4-1 Big Ten, 14-13 overall) walked into Wednesday night at Value City Area in Columbus, Ohio. With its hopes still set on a Big Ten Title, No. 19 Ohio State ( 3-2 Big Ten, 13-2 overall), had no intention of losing two straight on home court after dropping a double overtime contest to Michigan State last week. Riding a balanced offensive attack with four players scoring at least 14 points, the Buckeyes held off a gutsy effort by a depleted UW squad, and dropped the Badgers 77-67.
Wisconsin was in danger of being run out of the building early as the Buckeyes' star forward Terrence Dials scored six quick points on largely uncontested layups and spearheaded Ohio State to an early 15-7 lead. But a flurry of threes helped the Badgers go on a 11-0 run and retake the lead at 18-15.
'Basketball is a streaky game,' Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. 'The best thing to do is get something at your end and we went some stretches where we didn't do that.'
Already missing sophomore center Greg Stiemsma, the Badgers were almost faced with the nightmare of having only one scholarship big man when sophomore forward Brian Butch went down clutching his ankle after a grabbing a rebound with 6:39 left to play in the first half. Trainers immediately rushed to the court and helped Butch off to the locker room, and the Badgers found their normal nine man rotation suddenly down to six, with freshman forward Marcus Landry ruled academically ineligible. Despite being vastly undermanned and out-shot 48 percent to 33 percent from the field, the Badgers found themselves tied at the half 31-31.
Much to the relief of Ryan and his coaching staff, Butch's injury was not as severe as initially believed and he returned to his normal spot in the starting lineup to start the second half. Butch continued to play throughout the game and scored 11 points, but was obviously hobbled by his injury, which led to numerous breakdowns on Wisconsin's interior defense.
After shooting a chilly 22 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, the Buckeyes quickly regained the deadly outside stroke they had displayed all year, and made their first four threes of the second half and would jump to a 52-43 lead at 12:16 mark after a trey by sophomore guard Jamar Butler. The Badgers continued to make repeated pushes to close the gap, but Butler and senior Je'Kel Foster continued to hit big shots and the Badgers were forced to simply trade baskets with the Buckeyes. Butch would cut the lead to four after connecting on a jumper to make the game 65-61. But this would be as close as the Badgers would get as they made only one field goal over the final 5:55.
'At the end there, if we score on the three or four possessions when we had a shot, we could have got it to three or four points ... who knows'? Ryan said. 'When you come into a ranked opponent's gym, and you're in that kind of a position, you get it down to six or so and it's doable. You need some help, but our guys battled to that point.'
Junior forward Alando Tucker continued to put up big numbers scoring 21 points, but it took him 22 attempts to get there as he struggled throughout the night with his shot. Tucker also continued to have difficulties with his foul shooting and missed the front end of two one-and-ones with fewer than three minutes remaining that would have allowed the Badgers to close the gap on the Buckeyes. Junior guard Kammron Taylor tied Tucker in scoring with a game high 21 but only on 6-of-15 shooting.
The Badgers will look to rebound as they take a quick break from conference play when they face North Dakota State Saturday in Madison.
Badgers without Stiemsma and Landry
In a game where the Badgers needed all the help they could get against Dials, Wisconsin was without its most intimidating defensive post presence in sophomore center Greg Stiemsma. The 6-foot-11 Randolph native did not make the trip to Columbus with the team and has taken a temporary leave of absence for personal medical reasons. Despite only averaging 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this season, Stiemsma has been a powerful defensive presence in the post, notching 1.5 blocks per game and has been critical in the Badgers' defensive successes against Iowa's Greg Brunner and Michigan State's Paul Davis. There is currently no timetable set for his return.
Freshman forward Marcus Landry was ruled academically ineligible prior to the game with the Buckeyes and also did not make the trip. Landry, the high flying 6-foot-7 Milwaukee Vincent product, had been enjoying a stellar season to date, averaging 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He enjoyed his best game of the season in the Badgers' overtime victory against Eastern Kentucky in the Virgin Islands when he scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Landry's return to the team at this time is unknown.??
