Major Takeaways From Ohio State's Blowout Win Over Wisconsin

The Buckeyes pounded one of the Big Ten's best teams on Saturday, thanks to another great performance from E.J. Liddell.

Author:
Brendan Gulick
Publish date:
Dec 11, 2021 2:08 PM EST

The Ohio State registered a third top-25 win at the beginning of the season on Saturday afternoon with a demolition of the Wisconsin Badgers, 73-55. The Scarlet and Gray shot 50 percent from the field and destroyed the Badgers on the glass 49-28.

Ohio State won its fourth consecutive game and snapped Wisconsin's 6-game winning streak.

Here are my biggest takeaways from their impressive victory.

E.J. LIDDELL, ALL-AMERICAN CANDIDATE

Ohio State's unquestioned leader this year has been their incredibly hard-to-guard junior forward from Belleville, Illinois. Liddell posted his fifth 20-point game of the season today. He finished the game with a career-high 14 rebounds and one point shy of tying his career high 29 points he had against Niagara earlier this year.

It's only December, but he has to be the early favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year and I think he's playing at a first team All-American level. Liddell is a matchup nightmare for just about every team in the league and he seems to be getting better as the season progresses.

PROTECTING THE RIM

Ohio State's defense in the post today was outstanding. The Buckeyes constantly altered shots, blocking a few along the way but mostly just making it hard on the Badgers to get good looks at the rim. I think they approached this game knowing that Wisconsin's terrific guard Johnny Davis was going to score his points, no matter what. OSU was going to force someone else to step up and beat them. The Badgers hit only 8-of-14 layups and scored just two second chance points all afternoon.

TURNOVERS STILL FRUSTRATING

Ohio State has largely done a good job this year of overcoming its stretches of poor play. The Buckeyes had six turnovers by the second media timeout of the first half. Ohio State has been below average this year in that regard - they entered Saturday's game with more turnovers than takeaways, which is a bit odd for a top-25 team that has a good record to this point. They were ranked 228th in the country in turnover margin.

But to their credit, the Buckeyes calmed things down and didn't let that issue define them the rest of the game. They committed just eight more turnovers the rest of the game. 14 total turnovers is manageable, but it's still a bit too high. Shooting at a 50 percent clip will help alleviate that stress though.

REBOUNDING A STRENGTH?

I'm not sure there's been a single game all season in which the Buckeyes feel that rebounding has truly been a strength. It feels like they've been out-performed on the glass on a nightly basis.

Saturday was a much different story.

The Buckeyes out-rebounded Wisconsin 49-28, which is their most impressive effort in a very long time. Considering that Ohio State is often at a size disadvantage against its competition, that was a really promising sign.

Last year, the Buckeyes won four straight Saturday road games against Top 25 teams in the country. With three wins against ranked teams already and considering they aren't fully healthy with Justice Sueing and Seth Towns still unavailable, the Buckeyes are off to a better start than I expected. This team is really fun to watch right now and next Saturday's game in Las Vegas against Kentucky should be a great non-conference test.

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