Beyond the Box: Ohio State
December 31, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2009
Player of the Game
With leading scorer Jon Leuer sidelined due to early foul trouble, Trevon Hughes responded for Wisconsin the way a captain should. Hughes did more than just pick up the slack in Leuer’s absence, he single-handedly picked up the Badgers’ offense before halftime with 13 first-half points. The senior guard finished with a game-high 16 and matched his career high with seven rebounds to lead the Badgers to a 65-43 win over the Buckeyes.
Play of the Game
Jordan Taylor had points in mind when he drove toward the basket, but while taking some hard contact, he quickly changed his focus and made a great pass along the baseline. He extended himself and wrapped around an Ohio State defender, spinning the ball out to teammate Rob Wilson on the wing for an open look that Wilson drained to push UW’s lead to double-digits, at 22-12, with 10:13 to play in the first half.
The shot was the second of three 3-pointers the Badgers hit on consecutive possessions to bring the Kohl Center crowd into a frenzy and was part of a 14-0 run for Wisconsin over a five-minute span.
Turning Point of the Game
He had already drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 7-7, and the Badgers already had their first lead at 9-7 after Jordan Taylor found Ryan Evans for a layup, but it was Trevon Hughes’ third 3-point strike of the night that put things out of reach for Ohio State. Hughes knocked down that triple with 10:48 to play in the first half to give him 13 points in just over nine minutes of action. At that point, it was Hughes 13, Ohio State 12.
On the scoreboard, however, it was Wisconsin 19, Ohio State 12. The seven-point lead was as close as things would get the rest of the way, as the Badgers built an advantage that swelled to as many as 24 points in the second half.
Stat of the Game
Forty-three. The Badgers held Ohio State, the Big Ten Conference’s highest-scoring team at 81.6 points per game, to just 43 points. That’s 17 points fewer than the Buckeyes’ previous season-low of 60 against Cleveland State just over a week ago. Ohio State converted only 14 field goals in the game, shooting just 32.6 percent from the floor. The Badgers have now held the Buckeyes to 53 points or fewer in each of the teams’ last four regular-season meetings. It was also the sixth time in 13 games this season the Badgers have held an opponent under 50 points.
