For the Badgers, the idea was to literally get in the zone.
The UW offense struggled against a Buckeyes squad that pressured Wisconsin guards all the way down the court and then fell into an aggressive match-up zone defense, but stayed in the game by taking advantage of one flaw in the OSU defense. The Badgers crashed the boards as the Buckeye zone did not put players in ideal position to collect defensive rebounds to overcome shooting 32 percent in the first half.
After that, however, the Badgers found way to overcome both phases of the Buckeye defense.
Any time a team is in zone, we always say we can beat a zone down the floor,"" senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft said. ""When they extended and were pressing, Jon [Leuer] did a great job there right in the second half attacking that pressure.""
Early in the second half, Leuer took the ball down the sideline, around the Buckeye defenders, and dropped in a pair of lay-ups. That forced Ohio State to pull back on their press.
For much of the contest, Badger guards and forwards moved the ball around the Buckeye zone, but late in the game they began finding soft spots in the defense and getting touches around the post.
That led to a few open shots down the stretch, including a Leuer free-throw line jumper and the 3-pointer that gave Wisconsin its final lead.
Player of the game: Joe Krabbenhoft
Besides hitting that big shot 3-pointer late in the game, Krabbenhoft also contributed to the Badgers' winning effort in a variety of ways. He had the most rebounds on the team with eight, the most assists with four and doubled his career-best with six steals.
Furthermore, Krabbenhoft was charged with defending sophomore guard Evan Turner, Ohio State's top scorer. Turner did lead all scorers with 23 points, but turned the ball over six times, once with under a minute to go with OSU trailing by two.
""I love Krabbenhoft's game. He's got the savvy,"" Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. ""He understands everything that's going on and he made some great reads offensively and defensively.""
Handling the big guy
Buckeye freshman center B.J. Mullens was far and away the biggest player for either team, and threw his weight around with six points in the first half, including a pair of dunks. After the break, Mullens played 15 minutes, scored a single point and lost the ball four times as the Badger defense harassed his dribble and prevented the near 70-percent shooter from attempting a field goal.
Matta credited the Badgers for packing the lane and making interior passes difficult and the Badger big men pointed to the aggressive play of their guards as the cause of Mullens' difficulties.
""In the first half he kind of got going,"" Landry said. ""He's a big guy, all you've got to do is throw the ball up to him and he'll catch it. In the second half we were just really helping and recovering to him.""
JBo the chaser
Entering Saturday night's game, sophomore guard Jon Diebler was connecting on 45 percent of his 3-point attempts against conference foes and scoring 12 points per game. Against the Badgers, he missed all of his 3-pointers and only took four shots.
That was because junior Badger guard Jason Bohannon followed him doggedly around screen after screen and rarely allowed Diebler much space to get of his shot.
After the game Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan compared Bohannon to several recent Badger guards who excelled in the defensive end, especially in chasing shooters around screens.
""I thought Jason Bohannon never took a possession off defensively,"" Ryan said. ""He looked like Michael Flowers chasing out there. I mean he was chasing hard, he's defiantly chasing hard.""
