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Ohio State reaches new low in turnover-infested loss to Wisconsin

IMG_7408by:Andy Backstrom•02/02/23•

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Brice Sensabaugh by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
Ohio State star freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh was in foul trouble all night against Wisconsin. (Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)

COLUMBUS — All 6-foot-8 and 255 pounds of Ohio State center Zed Key tried to hold Chris Holtmann back. The sixth-year Buckeyes head coach was about to get T’d up with 27.7 seconds left in the first half of Thursday night’s game against Wisconsin.

Holtmann didn’t let up, continuing to argue that an offensive foul call on forward Justice Sueing was actually a flop by Badgers forward Tyler Wahl.

Holtmann was swiftly assessed a double technical and ejected. Then came a monsoon of boos.

“The first technical was warranted,” Holtmann said postgame. “I deserved the first technical. I don’t believe the second one was, but officials are going to do what they want to do. And I’ve gotta be more composed in that situation. I wasn’t composed. That’s on me.”

When subsequently asked what the officials told him while the ejection was happening, an impassioned Holtmann repeated the same words again and again.

“Couldn’t talk to him. Couldn’t talk to him. Couldn’t talk to him. Couldn’t talk to him,” Holtmann said. “Whole night. All we want to do as coaches is talk to officials. 

“Couldn’t talk to one of them.”

Associate head coach Jake Diebler took over for Holtmann in the second half, and the Buckeyes battled back from a 16-point halftime deficit to draw within one possession of Wisconsin in the final minute of play. Except a missed and-one free throw from Sueing effectively ended Ohio State’s comeback bid.

The Badgers, who went nearly seven minutes without scoring amid a 13-0 Ohio State run down the stretch, escaped Columbus with a 65-60 win. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, suffered their eighth loss in the last nine games.

Despite having five days to reload and prepare for Wisconsin (13-8, 5-6 Big Ten), Ohio State (11-11, 3-8) looked asleep at the wheel in the first half. The Buckeyes had as many turnovers (11) as field goals in the opening frame, which started with the Badgers staking themselves to an 8-0 lead in the first 96 seconds.

Key was asked postgame why Ohio State keeps stumbling out of the gates. The Buckeyes have now found themselves in double-digit halftime holes in three consecutive games.

“I couldn’t tell you,” the junior said after a long pause. “As I just said, I’m gonna take it as an older guy — it’s gonna be on me, and next game we’re gonna be prepared at Michigan from the start to play [well].”

Fellow captain Isaac Likekele later added: “We’re at home. They can’t come out more hungry than us. This our home court. We should be the ones coming out energized and just going hard off [the tip], but we didn’t today. So thats where the real difference was.”

Ohio State star freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh quickly erased his team’s eight-point deficit, first by hitting a pair of 3-pointers and then by sinking a turnaround, fadeaway jumper.

Sensabaugh accounted for 11 of Ohio State’s first 21 points. The problem was, he had three fouls with 2:54 left in the first half. And, for the fourth time this season, he fouled out.

Sensabaugh’s fifth personal came with 9:20 left in the second half, three seconds after he checked in following more than six-and-a-half minutes on the bench.

“He’s a terrific player,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said. “Fortunately, we got him in some foul trouble. We could defend him better when he was sitting on the bench.”

Aside from Sensabaugh’s scoring spurt, not much went right for the Buckeyes offensively in the first half — or defensively, for that matter. Wisconsin came into the night third-to-last in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (41.8%) yet shot a blistering 51.6% in the opening period.

Badgers center Steven Crowl went to work. At one point, the 7-footer scored 11 of Wisconsin’s last 13 points, helping Gard’s squad build a multi-possession advantage. Crowl got the best of both Key and Ohio State freshman center Felix Okpara in the post. He also dunked over first-year Buckeyes guard Roddy Gayle Jr. and knocked down a 3-pointer, en route to a 5-of-5 start from the field.

Similar to the final five minutes of the first half at Indiana, Ohio State shut down in the back half of the first frame. The Buckeyes turned the ball over six times in the span of 6:25, during which they scored just once.

Jumpers from underclassmen Wisconsin guards Connor Essegian and Chucky Hepburn — who finished first and second on the team with 17 and 15 points, respectively — lifted the Badgers to a 33-18 lead.

Ohio State climbed back within single digits briefly. Seconds later, though, Hepburn got a layup to go, Sueing was called for a charge and Holtmann erupted on the sideline.

“It definitely gave us extra fire,” Key said of Holtmann’s ejection. “My teammate here, Ice, said like, ‘Look, like we gotta pick it up. Holtmann’s out there fighting for us, and we’re not giving it back.’ 

“We came out in the second half ready to go.”

That was, after the Buckeyes swallowed another six Wisconsin points to close the first half. Four of those came on technical free throws.

Key recorded nine of his 12 points in the final frame, and he was the spark plug for an improved Buckeyes offense in the second half. 

Improved didn’t mean great, though. Ohio State still committed five turnovers, rounding out the night with 16, and hovered below a 45% shooting clip. The Buckeyes’ short-range misses, which plagued them in January, carried over, with the 6-foot-11 Okpara even missing a two-handed dunk.

“Whenever you got seven turnovers amongst your two point guards combined, five on myself, alone. That can’t happen,” Likekele said.

Nevertheless, Ohio State rallied. Without Sensabaugh. 

While Wisconsin couldn’t buy a basket — not even at the free throw line, where Wahl missed both of his attempts — the Buckeyes chipped away at their deficit and built on what became a 19-rebound advantage.

Back-to-back Sueing makes breathed life into the Schott. But Sueing’s and-one free throw after his spin and score in the post rattled in and out of the cup, forcing the Buckeyes to foul down, 62-60.

That was the beginning of the end of what turned into Ohio State’s fifth loss by five points or fewer in the New Year.

“I don’t look at this stretch saying it’s been the same story every game,” Holtmann said. “It hasn’t.”

Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, though, almost every game in this stretch has had the same outcome.

Thursday’s defeat just featured a new level of frustration.

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