Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Overcome Foul Trouble to Down 16th-Ranked Badgers 60-51
By Brandon CastelCOLUMBUS – Ohio State (13-5, 3-3 Big Ten) had to play 14 of the first 20 minutes without Evan Turner Saturday night, but the Buckeyes prevailed 60-51 over No. 16 Wisconsin (14-4, 4-2) thanks to a superb first-half performance from David Lighty.
Junior David Lighty picked up the slack for the Buckeyes when Evan Turner picked up two early fouls against Wisconsin.
Photo by Jim DavidsonThe junior from Cleveland scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the Buckeyes shot 59 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc while building a 34-22 lead in just their second home game of the Big Ten season.
“I thought it was a great team win,” OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said after the game.
“With the foul trouble we were in, guys came off the bench and did a great job. I thought our defense was what we needed to have to beat a good team like Wisconsin.”
The Badgers had their way with the Buckeyes just over two weeks ago when Matta and his team visited Madison without Turner on New Year’s Eve. Ohio State scored only 18 points in the second half of a 65-43 loss in which they shot just 33 percent from the floor while going 4-of-13 from behind the arc.
“They played hard up at our place, they just struggled shooting the ball like we did tonight,” Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan said.
“But that’s life, especially on the road in the Big Ten.”
But this was a different Ohio State team in a different atmosphere, as 18,402 fans packed into the Schottenstein Center for Saturday’s primetime game. Every one of them wanted to see what Turner would do as follow-up to his career-high 32-point performance in a 70-66 upset at No. 6 Purdue.
Despite the two early fouls, Turner scored 15 points in 26 minutes as the Buckeyes shot 52 percent for the game.
“We were getting good looks,” said Lighty, who went 7-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.
A big reason for that was the absence of Wisconsin forward Jon Leuer, who suffered a broken wrist in last Sunday’s win over Purdue. Without the 6-foot-10 junior in the middle, the Buckeyes were able to penetrate the lane and finish around the basket like they were unable to do up in Madison.
“He’s 6-10, so not having him in the paint was helpful for us,” Lighty said.
“Not having his 10+ points and 5+ rebounds on the court made them a different team.”
The Badgers’ leading scorer at 15.4 points per game this season, Leuer dropped 11 on the Buckeyes in the second half of their game at the Kohl Center. Even without him, the Badgers managed to stay even with the Bucks on the glass (each team grabbed 27 rebounds), but the difference was OSU guard William Buford.
The sophomore out of Toledo seemed to get to every loose ball Saturday as he racked up 12 rebounds, including seven in the second half to make up for a 3-for-12 shooting night.
“My shot wasn’t falling for most of the night, so I needed to do something to help the team out,” said Buford, who also added seven points, three assists and two steals in 38 minutes.
“We really challenged Will from the position he’s at to get in there and rebound the basketball,” said Matta, who watched his team go from 1-3 in the Big Ten to 3-3 in one week’s time.
“I’ve always said he’s got great timing for that.”
It was Lighty’s timing in the first half that may have been the difference in the game. Much like he did when Turner was out with a back injury, Lighty carried the offense in the first half while Turner watched from the bench with two fouls.
“There were stretches throughout the season where he picked up his performance. It’s comforting to know that he’s going to get the job done with whatever guys we have on the floor,” Matta said of his junior captain.
Turner scored six points in the first five and a half minutes of the game, but picked up his second personal foul at the 14:16 mark of the half. Matta elected to send Turner to the bench for P.J. Hill, who did an excellent job of defending Trevon Hughes, with the expectation that he might have to go back to his star junior before the half was through.
“When he picked up his second foul I told him you’re probably going to have to play with two, but we were able to keep the lead and be up 12 at the half,” Matta said of leaving Turner on the bench for the remainder of the first half.
The Badgers made a run to start the second half to cut the deficit to four at 34-30, but the Buckeyes went on a 15-4 run over the next nine minutes to extend their lead to 15 points at 49-34 with 8:42 to play in the game.
Wisconsin shot just 9-of-26 from behind the arc for the game, including 5-of-17 in the second half while the Buckeyes continued to attack the basket with regularity. They finished with 22 points in the paint and 11 off 14 Wisconsin turnovers as they exacted revenge for the loss in Madison.
Up next, the Buckeyes will host Northwestern (13-4, 2-3 Big Ten) Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) as they come off their 72-64 win over Purdue before traveling to Morgantown Saturday for a meeting with No. 9 West Virginia (13-3, 4-2 Big East).
“It’s another huge week with Northwestern and West Virginia,” Matta said.
“It just keeps coming.”
Game Notes:
- The Buckeyes are 11-0 in Value City Arena this season. They are shooting 53.4 percent from the field at home.
- The Buckeyes are now 7-9 all-time vs. Top 25 ranked Wisconsin teams, and 6-4 at home.
- Evan Turner's basket at 14:23 of the second half gave him 1,100 points for his career.
- Turner needs seven assists to become the second Buckeye in school history to record 10,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists. The only other is Jimmy Jackson.
- Dallas Lauderdale connected on 2-of-2 field goal attempts. For the season, he is shooting 46-of-62 from the field (74.2 percent), tops in the Big Ten. He is 30-of-35 (85.7 percent) at the Schott.
- With his triple at 5:41 of the first half, Jon Diebler now has 200 3's for his career. He is second all-time at Ohio State behind Jamar Butler (242).
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