Ohio State (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) earned its first Quad 1 win of the season by beating No. 24 Wisconsin (18-8, 10-5), 86-69, on Feb. 17 at the Schottenstein Center.
The Buckeyes got out to an early double-digit lead and didn’t look back, holding onto that advantage through most of the game on the way to their victory.
The game was tied after two minutes with junior forward Devin Royal scoring his first points of the game on a jumper to make it 4-4. But after a Wisconsin jumper, the Buckeyes separated themselves with an 8-0 run, five of those points from Royal.
The Badgers made it 14-10 at 15:14 before OSU scored eight in a row to make it a 12-point lead. Royal scored five more points on the run, making his second three-pointer of the game.
Royal made a layup at 12:49 but those were the last Buckeye points for over four minutes of game time, with Royal also ending the drought with another layup. However, the Buckeyes defense was strong during that run and the only points Wisconsin scored during that stretch were a free throw and a layup.
A three-pointer from John Blackwell made it a 26-20 game at 6:49, and after the lead hung around that point for a few minutes, three-point jumpers from freshman forward Amare Bynum and sophomore guard Taison Chatman stretched the lead back out to 12 points with 3:06 left in the half.
Senior forward Puff Johnson scored his first points of the game on a driving layup to make it a 38-24 lead with just under two minutes left and the Badgers scored a layup of their own 18 seconds later. Those were the last points of the half for either team and the Buckeyes went into the locker room with a 38-26 lead.
The Buckeyes shot well in the first frame, making 15 of 29 from the field (51.7 percent), which included 6 of 13 from three-point range (46.2 percent). Wisconsin made just 1 of 8 shots from beyond the arc (12.5 percent).
The lead was extended to 15 points under two minutes into the half when senior guard Bruce Thornton, who had just three points in the first half, doubled his point total with a three-pointer. Braeden Carrington answered with a deep ball of his own, but OSU got its lead to 47-31 with 16:06 left in the game on a jumper from Royal.
The Badgers continued to try to cut into the lead over the next few minutes, but the Buckeyes continued to answer, and a three-pointer from Royal got the lead to as far as 18 points with 12:41 left in the contest.
That was the largest the lead got at that point of the game, but Ohio State remained consistent throughout the middle of the second half, not allowing Wisconsin to get within even 12 points until Hayden Jones made a jumper at 6:12. That came toward the end of a two-plus-minute scoring drought for the Buckeyes that was ended by a three-pointer from Thornton.
The Badgers were unable to bring their deficit any closer the rest of the contest, and Ohio State cruised to its 17-point win.
Thornton led Ohio State in the game with 27 points, scoring 24 of those in the second half. He also had a game-high nine rebounds. Royal followed closely with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting, which included 4 of 7 from three-point range. The game ended a long stretch during which Royal was struggling to shoot from beyond the arc.
In the game, Thornton passed William Buford and Jerry Lucas to become third all-time in scoring at Ohio State.
