Feb. 4, 2012

Recap |  Box Score |  Quotes |  Photo Gallery 

POSTGAME NOTES
No. 3 Ohio State 58 (20-3, 8-2), No. 19 Wisconsin 52 (18-6, 7-4)
Feb. 4, 2012
Kohl Center – Madison, Wis.
Attendance: 17,230

•    Ohio State has now recorded 20 wins in eight consecutive seasons, all under Coach Matta. It is the longest streak in the Big Ten. Wisconsin is second with five.
•    The Buckeyes move to 83-65 all-time vs. Wisconsin and 28-43 in Madison. This is the first time in history that Ohio State has beat Wisconsin in Madison when both teams are ranked.
•    The last time a ranked Buckeye team won in Madison was a 67-63 win on 2/15/92 by No. 8 Ohio State.
•    As a ranked team, the Buckeyes are 21-10 vs. the Badgers. When Wisconsin is ranked, Ohio State is 9-9 vs. the Badgers.
•    When both Ohio State and Wisconsin are ranked, the Buckeyes are 6-2. The last time both teams were ranked in a game was 3/6/11 (No. 1 OSU def. No. 10 Wisconsin, 92-65).
•    Against Top 25 teams, Ohio State moves to 144-226, including 5-2 this season (the five wins are the most in the country). When both teams are ranked in the Top 25, the Buckeyes re 5-2 this season and 64-51 overall.
•    Ohio State moves to 732-664 overall in the Big Ten.
•    They are 41-7 in their last 48 Big Ten matchups, dating back to 3/8/09.
•    As a ranked team, Ohio State is 415-111 overall and when ranked in the AP Top 10, the Buckeyes are 294-62.
•    As the Associated Press No. 3 team, Ohio State is 33-6 overall.
•    Three players scored in double figures for Ohio State. So far this season, seven Buckeyes have scored in doubles figures a total of 75 times.
•    In their last 76 games, the Buckeyes are 69-7.
•    Ohio State has had a player record a double-double in 835 games. The Buckeyes are 576-259 in those contests (.688). Jared Sullinger had a double-double (24 points, 10 rebounds) vs. Wisconsin, the 28th of his career.
•    This is the 285th-consecutive game Ohio State has made at least one 3-point field goal (1/10/04 vs. Penn State was the last game with zero made).
•    The starting lineup of Buford, Craft, Smith, Jr., Sullinger and Thomas is 18-2 this season.
•    The Buckeyes have now amassed 131 assists in the Big Ten while only allowing 89 from their opponents.
•    Ohio State forced Jordan Taylor to have three turnovers. Wisconsin as a team had 10. They lead the nation with only 8.7 a game.
•    The win vs. Wisconsin snapped the Badgers six game Big Ten winning streak.
•    The loss vs. Ohio State was the first for Bo Ryan in Madison (8-1).
•    Ohio State shot 43% from the field. Wisconsin allows opponents to only shot 36.2% from the field, second best in the nation.
•    Jared Sullinger was the only player to attempt a free throw by either team up until the 8:14 mark in the second half (Lenzelle Smith, Jr.).
•    With the team’s 20th win, Thad Matta has now reached 20 wins in all 12 years he has been a head coach.
•    The win vs. Wisconsin was Coach Matta’s 210th win at Ohio State and his 106th Big Ten victory since beginning his Ohio State career.
•    Matta’s career record moves to 312-91 overall and 210-60 at Ohio State.
•    With the win, Matta moves to 110-43 in the Big Ten during his career.
•    Matta now has a 9-9 record record vs. Wisconsin.
•    The win was Matta’s first ever in the Kohl Center as head coach of the Buckeyes. He won once while coaching at Butler.
•    Ohio State is 36-39 against ranked teams during the Matta era.
•    Matta’s .778 winning percentage at Ohio State is the best among Big Ten coaches since Matta became the Buckeyes’ head coach in 2004.
•    Matta’s .714 conference winning percentage is best of any Big Ten coach in history, narrowing edging Bo Ryan (.713) and Bog Knight (.700)
•    Ohio State is 35-16 in February under Coach Matta.
•    The Scarlet and Gray are 128-19 when grabbing more rebounds than the opponent, including 17-2 this season (OSU outrebounded Wisconsin, 32-28).
•    When shooting a better percentage than the opponent, Ohio State moves to 187-19 under Matta, including 20-1 this season.
•    When holding their opponent to under 50 percent shooting, the Buckeyes are 20-1 this season and 197-47 under Matta.
•    Ohio State is 195-5 under Matta when leading with five minutes to play, including 20-0 this year.
•    The Buckeyes are 177-19 overall and 19-1 this season when leading at the half.
•    The Buckeyes are 17-2 this season and 178-47 under Matta when limiting themselves to 15 or fewer turnovers. Ohio State had nine turnovers vs. the Badgers.
•    The start was Buford’s 121st donning the Scarlet and Gray, two behind Ken Johnson (123) for fourth place in career games started at Ohio State.
•    Buford has been a part of 105 wins at Ohio State, tying Jamar Butler and Matt Terwilliger for sixth all-time.
•    Buford is just the fourth Buckeye in recorded history to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists. Buford’s current totals are 1,766/581/320.
•    Buford scored 11 points for the Buckeyes, improving his career total to 1,766, passing Jay Burson (1,756) for seventh place all-time in Ohio State career scoring. He is 19 points behind Jim Jackson (1,785) fox sixth.
•    Buford has now scored 906 points in the Big Ten. He is currently the highest active scorer in the Big Ten.
•    Buford had six rebounds to push his career total to 581. He is one of 17 former Buckeyes in the prestigious 1,500 point and 500 rebound club.
•    Buford has scored in double figures 19 times this season and 97 times in his career, including 59 games with at least 15 points.
•    Buford became the fifth player in Ohio State history to join the 400 (made field goals) and 4,000 (minutes played) Club. After the Wisconsin game, Buford has now tallied 666 made field goals and 4,158 minutes played in 128 career games (J. Diebler, D. Lighty, J. Butler and H. Williams are the other Buckeyes to achieve this feat).
•    Buford had one assist in the game for a career total of 330.
•    Deshaun Thomas finished with 16 points. It is the 31st time in his career he has scored in double figures and 20th time this season.
•    Thomas has scored in double figures in 20 of his last 23 games played. The 20 times this season are a team high.
•    Thomas also chipped in six rebounds for the Buckeyes.
•    Jared Sullinger had 24 points for the Buckeyes. It is the 20th time this season and 54th time in his career he has scored in double figures.
•    With 24 points, Sullinger joined the 1,000 point club, becoming only the seventh player in Ohio State history to score at 1,000 or more points in two years. He is the 48th player all-time to reach 1,000 points at Ohio State and the 17th player to score 1,000 points and credited with 500+ rebounds.
•    Sullinger had 10 rebounds, pushing his career total to 568.
•    With 24 points and 10 rebounds, Sullinger earned his 28th career double-double and 10th this season. It is also the 15th time against a Big Ten opponent.
•    Ohio State is 26-2 in games Sullinger scores a double-double.
•    Sullinger began the game 5-6 from the field. He finished the first half 6-8 from the field for 16 points and five rebounds.
•    Aaron Craft had three assists to push his season total to 112 and his career total to 289. He has had at least three in 22 of his previous 23 games played. He’s had seven games with six or more.
•    Craft is now 11 assists away from reaching 300 for his career.
•    Craft had one steal. He has 126 for his career. He has had at least one steal in 22 of 23 games this season.