Badger news: Three takeaways from the 71-60 win over Ohio State

The Badgers pulled away in a tough road game against the Buckeyes.

• by
  
  Rohan Chakravarthy
  

• on January 10, 2024 at 9:48 pm

The Wisconsin Badgers were defeated Ohio State The Buckeyes won 71-60 in a defensive battle, winning their fifth straight game and remaining undefeated in the Big Ten.

It was a hard-fought victory for the Badgers, who still managed to be effective in a slower-paced game, averaging 1.246 points per possession, outpacing the Buckeyes, who scored just 1.07 points per possession.

Defensively, the Badgers gave up just 60 points, and the Buckeyes' guard tandem of Roddy Gayle Jr. And Bruce Thornton even shoots 10/30.

Here are three takeaways from the Badgers' 71-60 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Mad Max

Max Klesmet saved the Badgers in this game.

After scoring 0 points in the first half, Kleismet came away with 18 points in the second half, including 10 straight points for the Badgers, who went a 7:10-minute stretch without a field goal from 12:26 to 5:16 of the clock. . the other half.

Kleismet, a player who has the ability to score, had just three points against Nebraska over the weekend, but came out strong in the second half, powering the Badgers, who needed field goals, away from the Buckeyes in the win.

Additionally, Kleismet's defense was integral for the Badgers in the second half, shutting down leading scorer Jamison Battle, who scored just four points in the second half after the forward scored 14 points in the first 30 minutes.

Without a scoring presence, the Buckeyes couldn't get much offensive juice in the second half, allowing the Badgers to pull away.

Max Klesmit, an underrated player on the team, was one of the main reasons the Badgers won this game.

Steven Kroll injured

Before the game, the Badgers listed center Steven Kroll as questionable with what appeared to be a lower-body injury.

Krul reportedly sprained his left knee before the match, and the broadcast indicated that the injury occurred during training yesterday while his knee collided with a teammate.

The Badgers' big man finally got to try, playing 28 minutes in the win, but it didn't look like himself.

Offensively, he did not have his natural bounce and struggled to get behind his opponents, while Krul also had some issues on the defensive side against Felix Okpara.

The injury doesn't look too serious, as Kroll was able to go today, but the big man's condition will be something to monitor for this weekend's game against Northwestern.

AJ Store

Just as Max Klesmet saved the Badgers in the second half, AJ Storr was the reason Wisconsin was in the game during the first half.

The Badgers ultimately finished the first half up 35-33, thanks to a halftime lead, but Storr had 15 of the team's first 29 points, scoring 7/11 in the first 30 minutes.

It wasn't settled either, as Storr hit nine of his 11 shots inside the arc, looking to attack and find his shots.

Storr finished with 17 points, scoring just two points in the second half from 1/4 from the field, but his first-half lead was the reason Wisconsin was able to sustain itself offensively through the first 30 minutes.

In tough defensive games like Wednesday's, the Badgers have struggled to win in 2022 because they can't beat them, and they don't score enough to remain competitive.

That won't be the case in 2023, and Storr's emergence has played a big role in that.

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