Wisconsin Badgers Too Much for Ohio State To Handle on Saturday Afternoon

The Wisconsin Badgers (15-6) welcomed in the Ohio State Buckeyes (14-6) in a huge Big Ten affair. But it would be the Badgers coming away with the 92-82 win, dropping the Buckeyes to 14-7 on the season.

Amare Bynum led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds. Bruce Thornton followed up with 17 points, three rebounds, and two assists. While Devin Royal finished with 17 points and six rebounds. As for the home team, they were simply more dominant and effective with three players scoring 19 points or more, and five with double digits.

It was a roller coaster of a first half to say the least. Ohio State came storming out of the gates taking a commanding 15-4 lead within the first six minutes. But Wisconsin would respond back themselves with a 15-2 run to take a 26-23 lead, completely changing the game around with still 7:18 left in the first half. It was a big part thanks to the Badgers sophomore, Austin Rapp who scored nine points on the run, and all 19 of his points in the first half alone.

The end of the half turned into a back and forth game, with Wisconsin holding onto a 49-43 lead at the break. It was an exciting twenty minutes that featured seven lead changes. The Buckeyes were shooting 41% from the field, and 7-for-16 from deep, as the Badgers were shooting 57% and 7-for-15 from long range themselves. It was clear the defense intensity would need to pick up, but it was a very solid first half from Bynum and Taison Chatman who both scored 11 points so far.

Things were not going to plan for the defensive game-plan though. Wisconsin came out of the half on a 11-6 run to get the lead up to eleven at 60-49. Despite Royal getting hot and scoring all six points offensively, the supporting cast was minimal with 15:34 left to play.

All of a sudden came a scoring drought over the next four minutes as it was just a total of four points coming from Ohio State. It helped them get within eight trailing 60-52, as the effort on both sides began to pick up. Things would pick up again, but the Badgers simply were keeping the Buckeyes away. They were not allowing them to get any closer than down eight, as it was back up to a 76-67 lead with 5:11 left to go.

With the game going at this rate, Wisconsin was able to maintain what they were doing by dominating the paint (42-30). The road team still would not fully back down though as Bynum hit a three in the final 60 seconds to cut it within 10. But it was simply too late for the Buckeyes as the Badgers come away with the 92-82 win.

Ohio State next travels to Maryland on Thursday night.