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February 9, 2016WFNY Super Bowl recap – WFNY Podcast No. 456
February 9, 2016Another week, another look at the Ohio State Buckeyes and what is shaping up to be a season to forget.
Buckeyes road woes continue in 79-68 loss at Wisconsin
Not only did their road woes continue, but Ohio State started off slow Thursday night, again. Digging themselves into an early 11-0 deficit in the first four minutes of the game, the Bucks then scored five consecutive points and eventually took a quick 22-21 lead with seven minutes remaining the opening half. But, that lead quickly dwindled and the scarlet and gray were down 38-32 at halftime.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they kept it close for the majority of the final 20 minutes, including trailing just 65-63 with four minutes remaining, Wisconsin didn’t miss a single free-throw down the stretch to eventually take the game, 68-79.
In the second half, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta changed things up, going with a small lineup when the Bucks trailed 62-50. With the small lineup on the court, they scored nine consecutive points, cutting a 62-50 to just three points. The head coach mentioned that the lineup change needed to happen.
“It got us space a little better, opened up some avenues to drive and kick,” Matta said. “Defensively, we weren’t doing as good a job as we needed to do on the bigs anyway.”
In the loss, just two Buckeyes scored in double figures, both of which didn’t start. JaQuan Lyle (27 points, two rebounds, four assists, two steals) and Kam Williams (10 points, two rebounds) led Ohio State. Also, the Buckeyes’ bench players tallied 46 of the team’s 68 total points at Wisconsin Thursday night.
Although he got the start over Lyle, A.J. Harris (two rebounds, one assist) put up a goose-egg in the scoring column in just nine minutes of work.
The Buckeyes were outrebounded (27 to 36), had almost half of the assists Wisconsin had (eight to 15), and shot 45 percent from the floor.
Coming up this week:
Tuesday vs. Northwestern (16-8, 4-7), 8:00 p.m. ET
Saturday at Rutgers (6-18, 0-11), 4:00 p.m. ET
The Buckeyes are now 2-5 in true road games this season, including just 2-4 on the road in Big Ten play.
