MADISON, Wis.: All of a sudden, the Kohl Center doesn’t seem like such a tough place to play anymore.
No. 3 Ohio State held on to beat No. 19 Wisconsin 58-52 on Saturday, ending the Buckeyes’ nine-game losing streak in Madison — and handing the Badgers their fourth loss at home this season, something that hasn’t happened before on coach Bo Ryan’s watch.
The Badgers shot 5-for-27 from 3-point range Saturday and struggled to defend themselves against Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger.
“Our guys take a lot of pride in being a good team, home or away,” Ryan said. “And some years maybe you’ve got some weaknesses, maybe you’re not quite as consistent in some areas, things like that. As it’s been said many times, it’s hard to be [playing] consistently at the highest competitive level.”
The Badgers (18-6, 7-4) aren’t out of the Big Ten title race by any means.
“It’s not over,” point guard Jordan Taylor said. “The race is still there. It’s obviously a big disappointment when you have a chance to fight back the way we did and score the way we did today. It’s still not over, so there’s no time to mope or feel sorry for yourself.”
Ryan Evans scored 14 points for the Badgers, while Taylor added 12. Mike Bruesewitz had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Sullinger scored 24 points and William Buford hit a critical 3-pointer down the stretch for the Buckeyes. Deshaun Thomas scored 16 points and Buford added 11 for the Buckeyes (20-3, 8-2 Big Ten), who held on to their lead in the conference standings. Sullinger also had 10 rebounds.
Ohio State ended its losing streak in Madison — and avoided a repeat of last year’s comeback by the Badgers.
The Badgers had no early answer for Sullinger. He scored OSU’s first nine points, getting the best of the player assigned to defend him, Jared Berggren. Sullinger finished the first half with 16 points.
“I let him get a couple of easy ones early, and that set the tone,” Berggren said. “A great player like him, once he gets a little bit of confidence, he’s hard to stop. A lot of it came early on. I let him get going. I’ve got to take a little blame myself for that one.”
Wisconsin later went to smaller but more mobile players, Evans and Bruesewitz, to try to handle Sullinger.
Ryan said he “just wanted people who wanted to move their feet and not allow a pass to enter the post” against Sullinger. Ryan called it an “easy decision” but didn’t directly criticize Berggren.
“I’m not going to sell out any particular players or anything,” Ryan said.
A layup by Wisconsin’s Josh Gasser cut Ohio State’s lead to 42-38 with 8:36 left, but Lenzelle Smith Jr. hit a layup and was fouled by Berggren — Berggren’s third foul. Smith hit a free throw for the three-point play for a seven-point lead, and the Badgers then had a shot clock violation.
Trailing 47-40 with 6:22 left, Wisconsin went on a 10-4 run, cutting Ohio State’s lead to one on a 3-pointer by Bruesewitz.
But Sullinger came up with a steal, and Buford hit a 3-pointer to give the Buckeyes a 54-50 lead with 2:27 left.
Sullinger missed a wild shot inside, but Taylor was called for traveling when he ran into Smith as he brought the ball up the court.
Aaron Craft hit two free throws for Ohio State and Taylor hit a layup on the other end, and the Buckeyes led 56-52 with 43.2 seconds left. Buford hit two free throws to stretch the lead to six, and Wisconsin’s Ben Brust lost the ball out of bounds.
