Junior captain Terence Dials scored 20 points while the other four Buckeye starters managed to scored just 18 points combined, as the 20th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers defeated Ohio State 64-56 in front of 17,763 fans at Value City Arena in Columbus, Sunday afternoon.

Dials scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, as the Buckeyes fought back and rallied from a 10-point deficit in the early stages of the game to tie the score at 19 with 8:24 left when Dials slam home a feed from Matt Sylvester.

But Wisconsin would go on an 11-3 run capped off by a three-pointer by Clayton Hanson that extended the lead to 30-22 with 4:31 remaining and the Badgers never looked back, taking a 37-27 lead into intermission.

During a halftime ceremony, Ohio State officially retired John Havlicek’s No. 5 jersey. Joining Havlicek in the ceremony was former head coach Fred Taylor’s wife, Eileen, and former sports information director and longtime radio voice of the Buckeyes Marv Homan. Havlicek was accompanied by his wife, Beth, and their children Chris Havlicek and Jill Buchanan. Also joining Havlicek was Chris’ fiancée, Kim Boger, and Jill’s son, Walker.

Having an all-time great like Havlicek around did not seem to be too inspirational for the Buckeyes as the Badgers took command right from the break to take a 44-29 lead with 16:01 left in the game. The Badgers would hold a double-digit lead until J.J. Sullinger scored with 19 seconds left.

Matt Sylvester was the only Buckeye other than Dials to score more than five points. Sylvester added eight points in 28 minutes played.

Wisconsin was lead by Alando Tucker who had 19 points. Mike Wilkinson added 14 more for the Badgers.

The Badgers finished the game going 24-of-48 (50%) from the floor, while the Buckeyes were 20-of-50 (40%). Wisconsin was 8-of-15 (53%) from three-point range, while the Buckeyes were a mere 5-of-22 (23%) shooting from beyond the arc. And the Badgers held a big advantage over the Buckeyes in rebounds, 37-24.

Dials became the 42 player in school history to reach the 1,000 mark. He got his one-thousandth point on a free throw 10:21 left in the first half.

Ohio State also set the mark for three-point field goals attempted in a season with 630 in 28 games, after slinging 22 against the Badgers. That topped the old mark set by the 1998-99 team who attempted 611 triples in 36 games that year.

Ohio State returns to action at 8 p.m. Wednesday against Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa

Tags: Buckeye Basketball //