Wisconsin 70, Ohio State 57: Last word

February 9, 2020
|In Badgers
|By Zach Heilprin

MADISON — Wisconsin continued its trend of playing well at home Sunday, taking down Ohio State 70-57 to claim a regular season sweep of the Buckeyes for the first time since 2005.

Player of the Game: Brevin Pritzl

The senior went off, scoring a season-high 19 points. It included a pair of 3-pointers and two assists in a 16-0 run to end the first half that gave the Badgers an 18-point lead at the break. When Ohio State got within 11 to open the second half, Pritzl responded with a layup and a 3-pointer. He finished the game with five 3-pointers, one off his career-high. Wisconsin is now 8-0 when Pritzl scores in double figures.

The good: Aleem Ford

When Ford is aggressive and is willing to bang down low, he’s at his best. On Sunday, he was and he produced a solid game on both ends of the floor. He had 10 points and a career-high nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. He shot a season-high eight times but also dished out three assists and, after getting turned around a couple times in the first half, more than held his own on the defensive end.

The not so good: Outside shooting

If you take Pritzl out of the equation, the rest of the Badgers were 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

Stat of the Game: 24

That was Wisconsin’s biggest lead of the game. The Badgers have now led or trailed by at least 18 points in six of their last seven games.

Best Video:

What they said:

Trevor Anderson on what they took from the 2000 Final Four team that was honored during halftime.

“Everything we’ve learned from them is just about playing for the W on the front of your jersey. They said there were like (12-11) at one point in the season. It just shows that anything can happen when you buy in and play for each other, so that’s a good message for us.”

In Case You Missed It

— Wisconsin honored the 2000 Final Four team with a halftime ceremony. A healthy contingent of the team returned to Madison, but the biggest cheers came for coach Dick Bennett.

— Playing in his second game against his former team, Micah Potter made his first start with the Badgers. He finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes.

— D’Mitrik Trice continued his strong play of late with a career-high 8 assists. He’s now had at least five assists in five of the last six games.

– A large collection of future recruits were in the crowd. That included 2020 signees Johnny and Jordan Davis, Steven Crowl and Carter Gilmore. 2021 commit Chris Hodges also was in attendance.

What’s next?

Wisconsin (14-10, 7-6) will travel to Nebraska (7-16, 2-10) on Saturday to take on the Huskers.