Intent on capping off its senior day with a victory, No. 1 Ohio State (15-2 Big Ten, 28-2 overall) came out firing and shot nearly 70 percent from the field on the way to a 93-65 defeat of Wisconsin.
Seemingly on autopilot for the entire 40 minutes, Buckeye shooters made 14 of 15 from behind the arc. For a Wisconsin team that hadn't given up more than 70 points in a game all season, this one was quite a shock to the system.
""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.""
It was senior guard Jon Diebler whose performance really spelled trouble for UW. After being held to just nine points on 2-of-5 shooting in the first matchup, the Big Ten's all-time leading three-point shooter rode the momentum of a 30-point, 10-three-pointer performance against Penn State earlier in the week. Diebler added seven more triples on Sunday, finishing the afternoon with 27 points, six rebounds and four assists.
""My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball today,"" Diebler said. ""I was just fortunate to be able to knock some shots down again.""
While the robotic shooting of Ohio State exasperated an already poor defensive effort by UW, there were a few encouraging signs in what was an otherwise forgettable outing. With the Buckeyes intent on keeping junior guard Jordan Taylor from beating them as he did in Madison, Josh Gasser was forced to step up on the offensive end and delivered when asked en route to a team-high 17 points.
Though the final margin was not entirely characteristic of the UW effort, the Badgers did play some very uncharacteristic basketball. With OSU's shooting handing UW a big deficit early on, the Badgers started to force things and the hectic pace leading to six turnovers, many of them unforced.
UW briefly made things interesting, cutting the lead down to 11 and about to take possession with just under 13 minutes left.
But, just as quickly as the thoughts of a repeat run crept into Badger fans minds, Gasser lost his handle of the rebound and the ball squirted out of bounds back to the Buckeyes.
Diebler responded with a three, and the door was quickly closed.
After exiting the court to a chant of ""deal with it,"" the Badgers may now be armed with the same desire for revenge that fueled a Buckeye team whose goal, according to freshman forard Jared Sullinger, was to, ""win by 50.""
While you never want to close out the regular season with a 28-point loss, the third place Badgers are in a good position heading into the postseason.
The Badgers open the Big Ten Tournament Friday night against the winner of Thursday's Penn State-Iowa game.
