No. 5 Buckeyes Edged on the Road at No. 3 Wisconsin, 72-69 – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2007
Box Score
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Kammron Taylor scored 25 points and No. 3 Wisconsin survived a late charge by Greg Oden and No. 5 Ohio State to hold on for a 72-69 victory Tuesday night.
The Badgers (16-1, 2-0 Big Ten) used a 14-0 run midway through the second half to apparently take control in an early season matchup of conference favorites.
But the Buckeyes (13-3, 2-1) rallied to close within 69-64 on a dunk by Oden with 37 seconds remaining.
Taylor then made one of two free throws on the other end, and the Buckeyes’ Ron Lewis hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three with 25 seconds left.
Joe Krabbenhoft hit one of two free throws for Wisconsin, and Oden again scored on a dunk with 8.9 seconds left to cut the lead to 71-69.
After Taylor again hit one of two free throws, Jamar Butler missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Alando Tucker added 17 points for the Badgers, who are 13-2 against ranked teams and 40-2 in conference home games under coach Bo Ryan.
Ivan Harris led Ohio State with 17 points.
It was another rough road outing against a highly ranked opponent for Ohio State’s heralded freshmen.
“We were in this situation a couple weeks ago at Florida and we couldn’t respond,” coach Thad Matta said. “I like the fact that our guys fought back and put us in the position to have a chance to win the game. But we’ve got to find ways and be more consistent with our play and understand the value of every possession, and I think we can do that.”
The Buckeyes lost 98-89 at then-No. 7 and current No. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 29, and fell 86-60 at then No. 5 and current No. 2 Florida on Dec. 23.
“This team’s been great with what we ask of them, and we’ve just got to keep finding ways to get better,” Matta said.
It was a breakout performance for Wisconsin sophomore forward Marcus Landry, who had 10 points and four blocked shots.
The Badgers led 43-41 after a 3-pointer by Butler, but Krabbenhoft scored inside to start Wisconsin’s 14-0 run that featured several key plays by Landry, who sat out part of last season after being ruled academically ineligible.
A block by Landry led to an end-to-end layup by Michael Flowers that put Wisconsin ahead 47-41. Landry rebounded his own miss and scored on a putback to put the Badgers up 55-41.
Oden blocked Landry on the Badgers’ next possession, but he got the ball back and got it to Flowers, who drove the lane and scored to put Wisconsin ahead 57-41 with 9:20 remaining.
Landry hit a 3-pointer with 8:04 remaining that made it 60-47.
But Ohio State went on a 17-9 run as Wisconsin’s shaky free throw shooting kept the Buckeyes in the game.
Lewis scored 14 points and Butler added 12. Oden finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots. He picked up his fourth foul with 7:07 remaining. Landry helped guard the 7-foot Oden down the stretch despite giving away 5 inches in height.
The Buckeyes were 17-for-52 from the field.
“I’m glad we can check this one off of places we have to go,” Matta said. “Right now, we’re sitting at 2-1 in the Big Ten and we’ve played in two pretty tough environments.”
