Badgers survive Buckeyes’ rally

Coach Gard wasn’t sure whether to be mad at his players for blowing a 23-point lead at Ohio State or happy they found a way to win.

COLUMBUS >> Wisconsin coach Greg Gard wasn’t sure whether to be mad at his players for blowing a 23-point second-half lead at Ohio State or happy they found a way to win.

Ultimately, Gard settled on a positive outlook after his 21st-ranked Badgers rallied for a 73-67 overtime win on March 10.

“We’ll be fine,” Gard said. “This is a great lesson for us. It’s a better lesson than doing that and losing it. We have to look at how well we played for 33 or 35 minutes. We did some really good things, and we did some good things in overtime, too.”

Wisconsin (22-9, 14-6) snagged the No. 4 seed and a bye in the first two rounds of the Big Ten tournament, which starts Wednesday in Chicago.

“For this group, to do what they’ve done this year, given the predictions and prognostications, to finish fourth and get the doublebye is a heck of an accomplishment for our guys,” Gard said.

Wisconsin was up by 23 and appeared to be cruising to an easy win in the second half. But Ohio State (1813, 8-12) went on a 27-5 run over the last seven minutes of regulation to force overtime. Wisconsin’s defense held tough as the Badgers outscored the Buckeyes 10-4 in the extra period.

“We made it way more interesting than I ever wanted it to be,” Gard said.

Surviving without Kaleb

Ohio State played and lost its third consecutive game without top scorer and rebounder Kaleb Wesson, who is suspended for violating athletic department policy. Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said the Wesson situation could be addressed prior to the Big Ten tournament.

Slow start

After missing its first 13 attempts from the floor in a loss at Northwestern on Wednesday, Ohio State missed its first 11 shots in this game. Wisconsin led 26-16 at the half, holding the Buckeyes to their lowest first-half point total of the season.

Big picture

OHIO STATE >> The Buckeyes’ NCAA Tournament hopes were on life support coming into the game. But if they can get Wesson back for the Big Ten Tournament, they might be able to make some noise in Chicago and earn an at-large bid.