Men's Basketball

Badgers buried by Buckeyes' barrage in regular-season finale

Men's Basketball

Badgers buried by Buckeyes' barrage in regular-season finale

March 6, 2011

1Ohio State93, 10 Wisconsin 65
Value City Arena • Columbus, Ohio
Game Photo

1st 2nd Final
 Wisconsin (23-7, 13-5) 32 33 93
 Ohio State (29-2, 16-2)
47 46 65
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• Attendance: 18,809
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 Statistical Leaders
 • Josh Gasser: 17 Pts, 6 Reb, 7-10 FG
 • Jon Leuer: 16 Pts, 5 Reb
 • Keaton Nankivil: 10 Pts, 5 Reb, Ast
 Stats at a Glance
WIS OSU
 FG Percentage
.417 .681
 3-Point FG Percentage .375 .933
 FT Percentage .667 .750
 Offensive Rebounds
13 5
 Defensive Rebounds 13 25
 Total Rebounds 26 30
 Turnovers
6 7
 3-Point FG
9-24 14-15
 Second-Chance Points
17 9
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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The buzzsaw that No. 10 Wisconsin ran into Sunday in its regular-season finale read "Diebler" on the back.

As in Ohio State senior Jon Diebler, who connected on 7-of-8 shots from 3-point range to spur the top-ranked Buckeyes to a 93-65 win over the Badgers at Value City Arena.

Diebler's showing was part of an NCAA-record 14-for-15 performance for the Buckeyes from behind the arc that removed UW's hope of securing its second win this season over No. 1 Ohio State.

"I don't think people do that very often," UW head coach Bo Ryan said of the Buckeyes' shooting display. "I thought we shot the ball well against them at our place, but what they did today is just unheard of."

Wisconsin (23-7, 13-5) got a team-high 17 points from freshman Josh Gasser and another 16 from senior Jon Leuer, and eight Badgers scored in all.

Still, it wasn't enough to overcome 27 points from Diebler -- on 8-for-10 shooting -- and another 22 from freshman Jared Sullinger.

As a team, the Buckeyes' 93.3-percent shooting from 3-point range is the best single-game mark in NCAA Division I history. Their 14 consecutive made 3s are also an NCAA record.

Ohio State, outright champions of the Big Ten, will carry the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Badgers will be the No. 3 seed and face the winner of a matchup between sixth-seeded Penn State and No. 11 seed Indiana.

Gasser scored 10 of his points in the second half, but it wasn't enough of a response as the Buckeyes continued to build on their 15-point halftime lead.

Ohio State hit all eight of its 3-point attempts in the final stanza en route to scoring the most points of any Badgers opponent this season. UW's previous season-high for points by an opponent was the 70 posted by Purdue.

The teams battled for the first 12 minutes of the game, before Ohio State built a little separation with a nine-point lead at the 7:15 mark.

After a turnover, senior Brett Valentyn buried a 3-pointer that briefly stemmed the tide and trimmed OSU's lead to 26-20.

The next two minutes proved critical, however, as Keaton Nankivil and Valentyn missed 3s on back-to-back possessions and watched Diebler and William Buford answer with treys on the other end each time.

The swing swelled Ohio State's lead to 12 points, at 32-20, and the Badgers were unable to cut the margin to single digits again.

Diebler dropped in another triple with 1 second remaining before intermission to make it a 15-point Buckeyes lead at the break.

Still, UW attmpted to rally in the early stages of the second half.

Gasser cut the lead to 12 with a conventional three-point play at the 16:11 mark, only to see Buford answer with a trey. A triple by Nankivil two minutes later trimmed the lead to 11, but Diebler again countered with a 3-pointer to make it a 14-point cushion.

Wth 12:47 remaining, sophomore Mike Bruesewitz threw down a dunk and hit the ensuing free throw to once again make it an 11-point OSU lead, at 59-48.

And, once again, Diebler stpped up a drilled a trey that kept the Buckeyes' lead at 14.

That run proved to be the Badgers' last, as OSU pulled away down the stretch.

Nankivil was the third Badger in double-figure scoring with 10 points, while the Buckeyes limited junior guard Jordan Taylor to eight points after he scored 27 to lead UW's comeback in a 71-67 win over then-unbeaten OSU in February.

Tip-off for the Badgers' quarterfinal matchup at the Big Ten tournament is set for approximately 8 p.m. (CT) on Friday. Big Ten Network will carry the game live.

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