Wednesday night's showdown between the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Big Ten standings, was everything one would expect from what's been called the toughest conference in the country.
After the first 20 minutes of play, Ohio State led by nine, was shooting 38 percent from three-point range and hadn't missed any of eight free throws. It was looking like the game was going to be a repeat of the two teams' last meeting, when the Buckeyes beat the Badgers fairly handily, 77-67.
Junior guard Kammron Taylor, who has been solid from behind the arc for the Badgers all season, had an off night. Luckily, senior guard Ray Nixon was solid, scoring 13 points and going 3-for-5 beyond the arc, but sophomore forward Brian Butch surprised OSU from three-point range, going 3-for-4 en route to a 17-point showing.
Taylor managed to add 12 points despite Buckeye guard Je'Kel Foster's relentless defense. Foster's defense was just a microcosm of the work OSU's defense displayed in the first half.
Tucker shifted the momentum in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring 10 of his 17 second-half points in under eight minutes. Butch, Nixon and Taylor also scored the majority of their points in the second half.
The Badgers kept it interesting, clawing their way closer to OSU, but giving up easy lay-ups and fouls. The outcome was uncertain until the final two minutes, when the momentum shifted for good, thanks to the efforts of four people: after Butler hit two free throws to pull the Buckeyes to within one, Butch hit a three-pointer off the assist from Taylor, then Tucker denied OSU senior forward Terence Dials' lay-up.
Tucker scored 27 points and nabbed 16 rebounds, but his biggest play proved to be on defense.
'The crowd really liked it too,' Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. 'The energy in that place, that was electrifying. The block was part of that.'
'It didn't surprise me at all,' Nixon said of the block. 'He's a great defender.'
But the turning point at the two-minute mark is just one instance of the team chemistry the Badgers put together in the second half.
'We've finally put it together,' Tucker said. 'This is what we've been talking about game after game. If we can fight through the [tough stretches] and come back with a surge of our own, we'll be straight. We'll always be in the game.'
Teamwork was also imperative to the Badgers shutting down Dials in the last 10 minutes of the game, during which he went 0-for-4 from the field and committed all three of his turnovers.
'A lot of it was team defense. He's an excellent player,' Butch said. 'It was the team that clamped down on him.'
It looks like the Badgers are adapting to a rotation without sophomore forward Greg Stiemsma and freshman forward Marcus Landry. But Tucker seems to expect this success, despite the mid-season change.
'Wisconsin teams always get better at this time of year. We've always gotten better, we never fell back,' Tucker said.
