Biggest takeaways from No.24 Wisconsin Badgers 86-69 loss at Ohio State

The University of Wisconsin has three top-10 wins in Big Ten play, showing that the Badgers can compete with some of the best teams in the conference and the country. They also have three losses by at least 16 points and two more by double figures.

UW's inconsistent season continued Tuesday, as the Badgers, coming off consecutive top-10 victories, fell flat to a team that was hungrier than they were.

Ranked for the first time since late November, No.24 Wisconsin was outmuscled, outhustled, and simply outplayed in an 86-69 defeat to Ohio State at the Schottenstein Center on Tuesday night.

#Badgers Recap: The edge Wisconsin played with to knock off top-10 teams and crack the AP Top 25 poll was gone on Tuesday, and Ohio State took advantage with an 86-69 victory in Columbus https://t.co/jUmTJjOkt7
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) February 18, 2026

The defeat keeps only a glimmer of hope that Wisconsin (18-8, 10-5 Big Ten) can win a share of the Big Ten title this season, as No.1 Michigan's 11-point victory at Purdue gives them a 4.5-game lead over the Badgers with five remaining.

However, the defeat puts the Badgers in sixth place alone, instead of a four-way tie for third place with the Spartans, Boilermakers, and Nebraska, which suffered a 57-52 defeat at Iowa. Next up for the Badgers? The Hawkeyes and their conference-leading scoring defense.

Here are my takeaways.

Wisconsin lost its edge

In Friday's dominant performance over Michigan State, Wisconsin made its first five three-point shots with four different players hitting them. Those early shots opened up opportunities and driving lanes that allowed UW to take firm control offensively, and Wisconsin balanced the offense by sticking to its defensive game plan of being physical.

None of that was evident.

Wisconsin was making mistakes even before the network telecast started, as Nick Boyd had the ball stripped on the game's opening possession while the country watched overtime between Villanova and Xavier.

It started a trend. UW had three turnovers in its first 11 possessions after having four the entire game at No.8 Illinois and six against No.10 Michigan State.

Ohio State cashed in repeatedly, scoring six points on layups on the possessions after the turnovers and things continued to snowball.

"We did not have the same mentality to us, aggressiveness to us, physicality to us," head coach Greg Gard said. "Ohio State, they were much more aggressive, much more physical than we were. They set the tone early and were able to get that lead."

What stood out to Gard was how Wisconsin didn't play with pace, walking the ball up the court at times and not attacking Ohio State's zone aggressively enough to cause them to switch its game plan.

That plan was designed to limit John Blackwell and Boyd. It worked, as the combo had 28 points on 26 shots with only two threes and four free throws.

"We didn't have the same bite to us that we had over the last two, three weeks," Gard said.

Wisconsin let Ohio State get comfortable

UW matched Ohio State bucket for bucket over the first three minutes, but the Badgers' defense was a step slow consistently at the beginning.

Consider the set of possessions that broke the game open:
* Amare Bynum hit a three-pointer without anyone 15 feet to him to give the Buckeyes a 7-6 lead that it never gave back.
* Devin Royal (season-high 25 points) hit a three with Blackwell giving him too much space.
* Royal was wide open under the basket for an easy layup after Boyd got screened and nobody rotated over.
* Taison Chatman used a ball fake to get Andrew Rohde out of defensive possession and hit a mid-range jumper.
* After a missed three and a media timeout, Royal got inside position on Blackwell for an easy layup.
* Following a Boyd turnover, Bruce Thornton hit an open three after Boyd had drifted to the middle of the lane.
* Boyd's quick shot on the other end led to a nine-second possession led to Royal hitting an open three on the other end and forcing Gard to use a timeout.

Ohio State led 22-10 with 13:30 remaining, and Wisconsin never cut the deficit below six the rest of the game, as every OSU starter that attempted at least four shots hit over 50 percent from the field.

The Buckeyes hadn't hit 10 three-pointers in a game since last playing Wisconsin, but the confidence built from those early possessions helped them go 11-for-21 from the floor, as well as Royal scoring a season-high 25 points and tying his career-high with four threes.

"We didn't guard them," Gard said. "I didn't think we were aggressive. We didn't have an edge to us defensively (or) physicality at the start. We let them get real comfortable. We talked about not letting them grow confidence, specifically here at home because when they do, they obviously have good players. I was disappointed in our ability to set the physical tone."

Bench guards were the highlight

With Austin Rapp missing his second game this season with an illness and Jack Janicki getting hurt sometime in the first half, Wisconsin's thin bench provided one of the few positives with senior guard Braeden Carrington and seldom-used guard Hayden Jones.

Carrington was part of UW's first-half power outage with two points on six shots, including missing all four of his three-pointers. He was one of the only Badgers who found his shot in the second half, going 5-for-8 on three-pointers, and was one of the few who delivered sound defense with two steals and a block.

The rest of the roster was 1-for-10 from three.

Knowing Janicki would be unavailable, Wisconsin felt that going with a smaller lineup would yield better results. Jones got extended minutes for the first time since his start against Central Michigan on December 22. Jones finished with six points, four rebounds, and an assist in 16 minutes.

"Hayden did some good things," Gard said. "I thought he rebounded well for getting put in there, not knowing how much he was going to play. He stayed ready and did some good things for a freshman."

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