Buckeyes race past Wisconsin, extend winning streak to four
COLUMBUS – There’s not much of a doubt – Ohio State is playing with its highest level of confidence since a run to the conference championship game in last season’s Big Ten tournament.
First came a second-half comeback against top-ranked Duke that is already cemented as an early-season turning point. Then the Buckeyes breezed through Penn State and did enough to pull away from Towson.
On Saturday, Ohio State netted its second-biggest win of the season by taking down Wisconsin, 73-55.
It was a matchup between foes ranked in the top 25, and it was clear it would provide an early barometer for where Ohio State stands in the Big Ten this season.
The Buckeyes knew they would be in for a hard-nosed Badgers group that locks on defense in the half court and slows tempo in grind-it-out games.
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That’s exactly what Ohio State got in the second half, and it shot itself in the foot trying to break through that Badgers wall. Ten first-half turnovers slowed down the Buckeyes offensive rhythm and made them stagnant on offense.
But after holding a five-point halftime lead, Ohio State regrouped and played clean basketball the rest of the way. The Buckeyes turned it over just one time in the first eight minutes to build a 13-point lead, and just four total turnovers in the second half helped lead them to a big win over the Badgers.
As Ohio State heads into what will likely be a top-15 showdown against Kentucky next weekend, what does Saturday’s victory mean for the Buckeyes ahead of that game? And if the Buckeyes can take care of the ball in future games, will they be able to make another strong run in the Big Ten?
Lettermen Row’s Spencer Holbrook and Zack Carpenter take a dive into this victory, what it means going forward and how Ohio State can avoid the pitfalls of previous mid-season swoons in the latest Rapid Reaction presented by Byers Auto. You won’t want to miss that analysis in the video below.
