Cold outside shooting leads to Ohio State being down to Wisconsin at half

Ohio State has been one of the better shooting teams in the country so far this season, but it’s been tough finding three-point buckets against Wisconsin up in Madison in the first 20 minutes.

After scoring 95 points last time out against Northwestern at home, the Buckeyes were only able to slowly pour in 27 points and trail the Badgers 40-27 at the half. OSU went 0-of-8 from beyond the arc, shooting 42.9% from the field overall. E.J. Liddell has been bottled up for the most part too, only registering four points on 1-of-5 shooting.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Wisconsin has been uncharacteristically hot, tossing in 7-of-13 (53.8%) from 3-point range. That’s a 21-point difference from outside the arc.

Ohio State isn’t getting the second opportunities against the Badgers either. The Buckeyes owned the glass the first time against Wisconsin in Columbus but are getting outrebounded 19-12 so far in this one.

Jamari Wheeler leads the Buckeyes with seven points, but it has been a flat and slogging affair — the type of game Wisconsin can force you into up at their place. If Ohio State is going to reel this one back in, it has to start making some outside shots to free up the inside a little more.

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