Ohio State basketball uses big first half to down Wisconsin

The Ohio State basketball team needed to win all of the games in the Big Ten Tournament in order to make the Big Dance. Step one of that process was beating Wisconsin in the first round on Wednesday. Wisconsin was a bubble team headed into the game and now they might be on the outside looking in.

Ohio State used a huge first half to beat the Badgers. They shot a red-hot 68% in the first half and held Wisconsin to just 18 points. The Buckeyes were winning by as much as 27 points as well. And yet, the game came down to the very end because of poor shooting in the second half by the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin cut the lead as close as four, but couldn’t get any closer. At one point, Ohio State went nine whole minutes with scoring just two points. It honestly looked like they were going to blow the game. But their big lead was enough to hold on for the win.

Ohio State won the game 65-57. The Buckeyes finished the game shooting 52%. Sean McNeil was huge in this game, scoring 17 points on 6/8 shooting, and adding three three-pointers. He was a flamethrower in the first half and really helped the Buckeyes build that big lead.

Justice Sueing added 15 points despite dealing with foul trouble after picking up three fouls quickly in the second half. Bruce Thornton was the only other Buckeye in double-figures, adding 15. He’s been playing some great basketball here at the end of the year.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Buckeyes move on to the next round. They will play Iowa tomorrow at 2:30 on Big Ten Network to try and continue an unlikely run to the Big Ten Tournament Championship. Let’s hope it’s not as nerve-wracking as Wednesday’s night game was.