When Jae'Sean Tate's three-point play cut Wisconsin's lead to seven with just under 13 minutes to play and the largest crowd the Schottenstein Center had seen all season rose to its feet and erupted, it appeared for a brief moment Ohio State was on the doorstep of another come-from-behind effort that would take the game down to its final minutes.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, it was at moment the Badgers flipped the switch.
Wisconsin answered Ohio State's run that cut into a 16-point deficit with a 20-2 spurt of its own over a 6 minute, 28 second timeframe and buried the Buckeyes in what turned into a 72-48 rout Sunday.
"We just wanted to come in and play our best basketball tonight and that didn’t happen,” Ohio State senior point guard Shannon Scott said.
That might be an understatement, though.
Wisconsin dominated the Buckeyes from start to finish; the Badgers led for all but 48 seconds of the game. Wisconsin shot 50 percent from the field compared to Ohio State's 34 percent and the Badgers connected on 7 of their 21 3-point attempts. The Buckeyes made just 3 of 15 from behind the arc.
Wisconsin almost made it look effortless at time. The Badgers were crisp and efficient on offense and locked down on the defensive end, stifling Ohio State's offenses for stretches.
"We had a bad day and they had a lot to do with that," Buckeyes freshman guard D'Angelo Russell said. "I thought we were ready and prepared as a unit, but unfortunately we came out short missing shots, defensive assignments and it just all added up in the end.”
The loss was certainly disappointing for an Ohio State team which had won three-straight games entering Sunday. Sure, Wisconsin is one of the top teams in the country, but the Buckeyes weren't even competitive.
"It’s discouraging," Scott said. "We knew we wanted to come in and win this game and they blew us out."
The Badgers did it with a balanced attack on offense. National Player of the Year candidate Frank Kaminsky scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed five rebounds. Bronson Koenig scored 15 points and Sam Dekker added 10. The eight different players who scored for Wisconsin all had put the ball in the basket before the game even reached the under-12 media timeout in the first half.
"I think defensively, we weren’t communicating at the level we needed to be communicating at," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. "It’s not like we were doing something that we just put in, but we were tight-lipped. Usually when we are plying we are talking and we’re moving. They kind of had their way."
With the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments on the horizon, Wisconsin was a good measuring stick for the types of teams the Buckeyes could potentially face in the coming weeks. They certainly didn't look up to the challenge.
Ohio State had its biggest test of the season at home on its Senior Day and it failed.
"We have no choice but to shake it off. If we don’t shake this off right now we’re going to lose again in our very next game," Scott said. "If we want to be a great team, we’ve just gotta let it go right now.”
On deck for the Buckeyes is next week's Big Ten tournament in Chicago. Ohio State will be the No. 6 seed and its opponent is unknown right now, but the Buckeyes will be in action roughly 9 p.m. Thursday.
Ohio State's seed in the NCAA tournament could largely depend on how it performs in Chicago. The Buckeyes will need to string together a couple of wins if they want to avoid playing teams like Wisconsin in the tournament's opening weekend.
“I don’t know anything about March, but I know anything can happen," said Russell, who scored a team-high 17 points. "Just keeping the right attitude as a team, as a unit, as a collective group. Just keeping a free and open mind that anything can happen, I feel like we’ll be successful.”
