Buckeye Blogger NetworkWelcome to Wednesday, the first of May… it’s officially grilling season (unless you live in California, where it’s always that time). Here’s today’s soundtrack; if you don’t know why, then… well… keep reading.
Archie’d
Buckeye 411
OSU and Wisconsin are meeting up for the rubber match in the B1G Tournament Finals today. The Badgers were the last team to beat Ohio State, so there’s revenge on the line in several ways.
Join us and The Buckeye Blog, Buckeye Empire, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Buckeye Ninja as we cheer on the Buckeyes in tournament time!
A bit late getting to this today due to “St. Patrick’s Day” festivities (that’s what we’re going with).
Go Bucks!
#1 Indiana versus #4 Wisconsin
The first ten minutes of the first half has been back and forth with neither team wanting to pull ahead. However, back to back three pointers by Indiana’s Watford and Abell helped pushed the Hoosiers to a 5 point at the under 8 media timeout. But the Badgers refused to back down thanks to the efforts of Ryan Evans on the offensive boards and key three point shots by Ben Brust and Mike Bruesewitz that put them ahead 26-22 at the final media timeout of the first half. Wisconsin was able to sustain a late flurry by Indiana to hold a 34-31 lead at halftime. Evans leads all scores at the half with 10 while Indiana’s Watord and Oladipo both have 8.
The first ten minutes of the second half were nothing but a game of runs. Wisconsin opened the half with a 6-0 run to open a nine point. Indiana immediately answered with a 9-0 run of their own. The Badgers’ Evans then took the team on his shoulders leading them on a 10-3 run and a 50-43 lead at the mid-way point of the second half. The Hoosiers tried and tried down the stretch to take the game over but Evans refused to let it happen as his 16 points paved the way to Wisconsin’s 68-56 victory over Indiana.
Tom Crean will now have to “Deal with It” as he awaits his tournament seeding while the Badgers await the winner of the second game between Michigan State and Ohio State. Be sure to check out our live blog during that game and check out our review of the game afterwards!
#3 Michigan State versus #6 Iowa
Iowa used a quick start and some of Sparty’s own medicine to jump out to a 30-20 lead at halftime. The Hawkeye’s quick start opened a double digit lead but Michigan State settled down and was able to get the lead trimmed in the middle of the half. Iowa then used a couple of three points down the stretch to open it back up a bit and take their 10 point lead into the half.
The Hawkeyes have taken a page out of the Spartan’s playbook when it comes to hustle and heart. Every loose ball seems to going to Iowa and as of right now it just looks like they want it more then Michigan State. Iowa is copying their first half performance from last night as they have 8 different players scoring again tonight (none have over 6 points) and Michigan State’s Adrian Payne leads all scorers with 7.
The second half of the game left me speechless. Unfortuntalely, it was for many reasons. Iowa fought extremely hard, out working the Spartans for much of the game. They continued to run a balanced, team offense in which no player had double figures when all was said and done. Michigan State refused to go quietly as Payne (18 points), Harris (13 points), and Appling (13 points) slowly chipped away at the Hawkeye lead and eventually took the lead with about 4 minutes to go. Iowa still didn’t give up as they missed a game tying shot at the end of game, allowing the Spartans to escape with the victory 59-56.
Michigan State will now face Ohio State in the second semi-final game tomorrow. They will tip-off approximately 25 minutes after the Indiana-Wisconsin matchup. Be sure to check back with us tomorrow for complete updates all day long!
#2 OSU versus #10 Nebraska
Check out Eric’s recap of the OSU win over Nebraska here.
#4 TTUN versus #5 Wisconsin Read More
The Buckeyes seemed at a total loss against the focused Badgers.
It was over before halftime.
After shooting 3/3 from the floor to start the game at the Kohl Center, Wisconsin took over defensively, offensively and in every single facet of the game.
After an 18-0 run was silenced by a Deshaun Thomas jumper in the first half, the Buckeyes were down 24-8 and dumb founded.
The Badgers responded like the did all night. With an answer. The cheese state phenom Sam Dekker nailed a three pointer to silence any Buckeye fan with hope in the first half with just 3:46 to play in the opening frame.
The Buckeyes would head into the locker room lacking any defensive effort minus Aaron Craft, a shooting percentage under 25% and their best scorer starting out 1/7 from the floor.
Thomas would start the second half ⅚ from the field, but Ohio State’s woes on the defensive side of the floor would continue.
Despite starting off matching the efforts of Wisconsin to open the second half, The Buckeyes got outworked, outsmarted, and out played in a game they were slated to be at the least competitive in.
This loss was the biggest deficit the Buckeyes have faced since taking on Tennessee in the 2009 tournament and coming back to win.
After a closer than comfortable win against Northwestern, Ohio State now travels to the Kohl Center and one of the more hostile environment in the B1G. Ah, good times with Bucky once again.
Join us and The Buckeye Blog, Buckeye Empire, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, and Buckeye Ninja as we help our good friend Bo Ryan learn to Deal With It.
Today’s game is scheduled for 1 PM EST on the CBS. The LiveBlog is scheduled to start 15 minutes before tip.
Go Bucks!
It’s time for the Buckeyes to make the Badgers Deal With It. Let’s take a closer look.
None of this on Tuesday
| School: | University of Wisconsin – Madison |
| Location: | Madison, WI |
| Founded: | 1848 |
| Student Population: | 42,595 total, 28,897 undergrad |
| School Type: | Public |
| Stadium: | Kohl Center (you’re welcome) |
| Seating: | 17,230 |
| Opened: | 1998 |
| Head Coach: | William Francis ‘Bo’ Ryan, Jr. |
| Experience: | 12th year |
Wisconsin’s Morgan Paige gave Ohio State nightmares in their loss to the Badgers.
After getting their first Big Ten win of the year against Indiana, the Ohio State women’s basketball team knew that they couldn’t relax heading into today’s game against Wisconsin. Even though the Badgers came into this game as one of the two teams in the Big Ten that still didn’t have a conference win, the game would be in Madison and road wins are always tough to come by in the conference and the Buckeyes had a big hole still to dig out of after losing their first four conference games.
Ohio State got off to a good start, scoring the first seven points of the game on the way to taking an early 10-2 lead. Wisconsin quickly responded though, scoring 9 straight points, helped in part by a pair of costly Buckeye fouls, to take an 11-10 lead about eight minutes into the game. After exchanging a few baskets with the Badgers, the Buckeyes took advantage of three pointers by Cait Craft and Raven Ferguson to score 10 unanswered and retake a 23-14 lead with six minutes left in the half. Wisconsin wasn’t impressed though, putting together a 7 to 2 run to cut the lead to 25-21. OSU would quickly extend the lead to eight but the Badgers took advantage of two Buckeye fouls in the closing minute to cut the OSU lead to 29-25 as the half ended.
