Previewing the Ohio State Buckeyes

Rankings, stats, players to watch and more

On Sunday, the Wisconsin Badgers hope to stay above .500 in conference play when they face the Ohio State Buckeyes inside the Kohl Center.

Ohio State (15-7 overall, 5-6 Big Ten) comes into Madison riding a three-game winning streak after a rough stretch where at one point it had lost six of seven contests. Though the Badgers defeated the Buckeyes in a 61-57 road win in early January, Greg Gard's team will need to contend with a lineup that has seen the return of forward Kyle Young. The junior has returned to action on the floor after missing that first meeting due to an appendectomy. 

"He's kind of their glue," Gard said on Friday. "Seeing that, even before we played them when he had the appendicitis, he was an X-factor. Maybe it doesn't show up on stats all the time, but just the energy, the hustle plays. He does for them what Tyler Wahl does for us, except it's an advanced, more experienced player.”

Combining Young's presence with the need to contain Young, the double-double machine in Kaleb Wesson, Duane Washington, Jr., and Andre Wesson, can Wisconsin hold serve on the home court?

Ohio State Rankings, Stats

• AP Ranking: N/A
• KenPom Ranking (as of Feb. 8): No. 12 (No. 22 adjusted offensive efficiency, No. 16 adjusted defensive efficiency)
• NCAA NET Ranking (as of Feb. 8): No. 16

Stats	Ohio State	Ohio State's Opponents
Points Per Game	72.3	61.2
Field Goal Percentage	45.3	38.1
Three-Point Percentage	38.2	33.2
Free Throw Percentage	71.9	66.2
Rebounds Per Game	37.7	32.3
Assists Per Game	14.3	10.1
Turnovers Per Game	13.2	12.5
Steals Per Game	4.7	4.6
Blocks Per Game	3.8	2.9

As of Feb. 8, Ohio State leads the Big Ten in three-point field goal percentage. It also ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage and third in field goal percentage defense.

Since Last Time

Wisconsin pulled off that four-point win in early January, which was part of a timeframe where Ohio State dropped six of seven. Since the loss to the Badgers, however, the Buckeyes have gone 4-4, which includes the aforementioned three-game winning streak heading into Sunday's matchup.

"They have a very talented team," Wisconsin guard Brad Davison said on Friday. "Obviously, they're off to a really fast start earlier in the year, went through a little slide but now three in a row, so they're playing really good basketball. Whenever you can win three games in a row in this league, you're doing something right."

Players to Watch

Junior Kaleb Wesson will be once again be one to keep an eye on. Despite that loss in early January, the 6-foot-9 big man contributed 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting and snagged 13 rebounds against Wisconsin. This season, he has averaged nearly a double-double in 22 starts (14.3 points per game, 9.8 rebounds per game). He also makes 41.9% of his three-point attempts.

Behind Wesson in the scoring department, guard Duane Washington, Jr. adds 11.1 points per game to the Buckeye's offense and is a 41.1% shooter from deep. In Columbus, he scored 18 points but only made six of 19 attempts. He did connect on four of 10 from beyond the arc in that loss to UW on Jan. 3.

Older brother of Kaleb, 6'6 senior forward Andre Wesson contributes 8.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in about 29.1 minutes per game. 

Then there's Young, who in 20 games has scored 7.7 points and brought down six rebounds per contest. Most recently in the win at Michigan, he played 33 minutes and made five of nine shots on way to a 12-point, five-rebound performance.

"I'm glad he's healthy," forward Micah Potter said of Young on Friday. "I know how hard that kid works. I was on a team with him for two years, and he's such a good kid, has a great family, so I'm glad he's healthy again."

Ohio State will be without guard D.J. Carton, who announced on Jan. 30 that he would temporarily leave the team to attend to his mental health. He averaged 10.4 points and shot 47.7% in 20 games.

Quotes from Micah Potter

*On how much he looks forward to this game, being a transfer from Ohio State:

"It's the second time we've gotten them. Going back there (to Columbus), I'd say was probably a little bit more, I don't want to say uneasy, because I didn't feel weird going back there. I mean, maybe a little bit, but it's just another game in the Big Ten. We need to win. As with any game, we need to win. That's our mentality. Going on the road's tough. We need to take all the home games we can get, and I think going forward, our schedule's got a lot of home games, which is huge for us. A lot of other teams have a lot of away games. Going forward it's just focusing on Ohio State and making sure we're prepared for them come game day."