The Wisconsin Badgers fell behind early yesterday against Ohio State and never fully recovered, the 74-62 loss dropping them to 12-4 on the season and 6-3 in conference play.
After the game, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann gave high praise to the Badger team the Buckeyes were able to defeat.
“You look at this Wisconsin team and we have tremendous respect for them,” Holtmann said. “Top 10 team in the country, they’re really talented, they’re obviously old, they’re well-coached, they’re really disciplined.”
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He continued to discuss this year’s reality of empty arenas, focusing on the fact that while everybody is playing in neutral environments, a win against a team like Wisconsin is still an impressive one.
“First of all I would say this is a great win regardless because of the competition,” Holtmann said. “But it is very much different, I think every environment is a neutral environment, and that’s just the reality. You’re playing the other team, you’re trying to execute against the other team. It’s a bit awkward at home I think for everybody. But at the end of the day, between the lines it really is about execution and how you’re playing. And it’s a great win because you’re beating a terrific team.”
One of the stories of the game was the Badgers’ inability to get hot from three-point territory, Greg Gard’s team finishing the game with just seven makes on 28 attempts.
The Buckeye head coach talked about whether the Badgers’ shooting woes were more due to his team’s defense or to them just having an off night shooting the basketball, as he said he thinks it’s “probably a combination of both….When you get ahead of a team some of those shots are a little more difficult. So I think us jumping to a couple possession lead early was important.”
His final note on Wisconsin basketball came when he was discussing the Buckeyes’ lead, emphasizing that he never felt secure until the clock hit zero.
“It never felt safe, it never does in this league,” Holtmann said. “Especially when you’re playing the caliber of team we were playing and you know their ability to make threes. It never felt like the game was even close to an end.”
The Badgers will look to bounce back from their defeat on Wednesday when they visit Maryland, a team that accounts for one of Wisconsin’s three Big Ten losses thus far this season.