After a historical comeback win against Indiana earlier in the week at the Kohl Center, the No. 22 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team (8-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) were back on the road for a ranked contest vs. No. 22 Ohio State (8-2 overall, 2-0 Big Ten).

The Badgers entered the game looking to remain perfect in Big Ten play, and notch another win over a Quad 1 opponent to bolster their NCAA Tournament resume. However, Ohio State had other plans. The Buckeyes took it to the Badgers in Columbus for an 18-point win.

Led by 10 early points by Brad Davison and Johnny Davis, Wisconsin was able to grab a three-point lead by the first media timeout. The Badgers were superb on the defensive end and forced four Ohio State turnovers over the following three minutes to add to their lead. By the next media timeout, Greg Gard’s bunch was up 17-9 as everything was working early for the Badgers.

Ohio State would respond with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes though, as Wisconsin seemed out of sorts on both ends of the court. EJ Liddell led the charge for the Buckeyes, but the Badgers had multiple turnovers and/or forced shots during the span that hurt them.

Davison would stop the bleeding with a contested three-pointer around the six-minute mark, but it was Johnny Davis who kept the Badgers in it with five straight points as he and Liddell traded buckets.

Over the final two minutes, Chris Vogt converted on a beautiful feed by Davis to trim the OSU lead to only two, but a Cedric Russell three would give the Buckeyes a five-point advantage at half.

The Badgers struggled on the offensive end, missing five of their first six shots following halftime. The lack of scoring allowed Ohio State to push their lead to eight with 17 minutes remaining and forcing Greg Gard to take a timeout. Nothing changed prior to the first media timeout, as the Badgers went into the timeout missing their last nine shot attempts.

By the time there was 11:43 left to play Ohio State was able to build a 13-point lead as the lid was on the basket for the Badgers. The Buckeye lead would only balloon from there, as over the next few minutes, Johnny Davis continued to fight. In the end, Ohio State was the better team on Saturday and wound up running away with it for a 73 to 55 win.

Notable stat lines:

• Johnny Davis —> 24 points (11-of-22 from the floor), seven rebounds, three assist
• Brad Davison —> 13 points (4-of-12 from the floor), five rebounds
• EJ Liddell (Ohio State) —> 28 points (11-of-16 from the floor), nine rebounds, four assists

Up next: The Badgers will be back at the Kohl Center on Wednesday, December 15 vs. Nicholls State. The game will be aired on Big Ten Network at 7 p.m. CT.