Byline: Rob Schultz The Capital Times
Alando Tucker has made many plays during his exceptional career at Wisconsin that could be considered a defining moment. His 3-pointer that beat Iowa at the Big Ten Conference tournament and his putback that beat Indiana last year are two that quickly come to mind.
But nothing the 6-foot-6 Tucker had done previously in his career was as impressive as when he stood tall and strong in the paint against Ohio State's burly 6-9 Terence Dials and electrified a sold-out Kohl Center by blocking his shot with 91 seconds left in the game and the Big Ten Conference race hanging in the balance for the Badgers.
That block was a bold-faced, triple-exclamation mark at the end of a statement game by Tucker and the Badgers, who upended the 12th-ranked Buckeyes 78-73 in a thriller Wednesday night. Their third straight victory allowed the Badgers (18-7, 8-4 Big Ten) to jump over Ohio State (18-4, 7-4) and into sole possession of second place in the Big Ten standings.
As impressive as Tucker's block -- as well as his game-high 27 points and 16 rebounds -- was how he tried to downplay it all afterward.
'It's not like I'm saying these are things I've always dreamed of doing or wanted to do. I don't look at it as if I'm doing anything special,' said the Badgers' junior forward, who has positioned himself as one of the leading candidates for Big Ten player of the year.
'I'm looking at it as if you're a great player and you have a lot to bring to the team, these are the things you have to do,' he added. 'If I settled for anything less I couldn't be happy with myself.'
Tucker was anything but happy after he had a talk with UW coach Bo Ryan following a 70-62 loss at Purdue on Feb. 4. The Badgers had just lost for the fifth time in six games and Ryan told the Big Ten's leading scorer that he was forcing too many shots, he was inconsistent on defense and he was anything but inspirational as a leader.
'I finally realized that I was struggling with a lot of things,' Tucker said. 'If I'm not hitting shots and if nobody else is hitting shots, I have to continue to be supportive and be on their side about making good things happen.'
Since that talk, the Badgers have won three straight games in three different ways. They beat Indiana 72-54 with a smothering 40-minute defensive effort. They won at Penn State 82-62 with Tucker on the bench for much of the game due to foul trouble. They rallied to defeat red-hot Ohio State because of Tucker's efforts and how his teammates took advantage of the attention he got from the Buckeyes' defense.
Besides Tucker, the Badgers got 17 points from sophomore forward Brian Butch, 13 points from senior guard Ray Nixon and 12 points -- all coming in the second half -- from junior guard Kammron Taylor.
'You can't ask for a better performance from Alando Tucker tonight,' said Nixon, who scored 10 points during a 15-6 run that gave the Badgers a 72-68 lead with 1:46 left.
Equally important was the Badgers' team effort that shut down the Buckeyes' sizzling perimeter game. Ohio State was averaging 12.5 3-pointers and shooting 48.5 percent from 3-point range over its past four games. But the Buckeyes were held to season lows of four 3-pointers and a23.5 shooting percentage from 3-point range against Wisconsin.
'They were due to miss some shots some game. I'm glad it was ours,' said Ryan.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta gave the Badgers credit for staying in the faces of the Buckeyes and knocking them out of their rhythm. 'But from our standpoint I think we really helped them,' said Matta. 'We stood around a little too much and held the ball for too long.'
The Buckeyes stayed in the game because of Dials, who led the Buckeyes with 24 points and 11 rebounds. But Dials scored his last points on a layup with 12:38 as the Badgers constantly pestered him with various defenders.
One of the last was Tucker, who found himself alone in the paint with Dials with 1:31 left and the Badgers leading 72-68. With the Kohl Center crowd in a frenzy following Butch's 3-pointer just seconds earlier, Dials had the ball and tried to back down Tucker to close in on the bucket.
'It was picture perfect for me,' said Tucker. 'I saw him attacking the basket. I saw him when he caught it and I knew he thought he had an easy layup. I knew he thought he was about to ring up two points.'
Tucker said he challenged the shot after Dials decided to go up softly with the ball rather than try to dunk it over him.
'It's plays like that we have to make in order to be successful, in order to be a winning team,' said Tucker, who made a bunch of them as he ended up making 10-of-18 shots and an impressive 7-of-11 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed seven offensive rebounds to help the Badgers dominate 20-2 in second-chance points.
'Everything is jelling. Before we talked about what we had to do. Now, everybody is actually realizing it and starting to do it,' said Tucker. 'You can tell how our intensity level has picked up.'
In particular, you can tell how Tucker's intensity has picked up and how his teammates are responding.
'We're feeding off what's happening in the Big Ten,' said Tucker. 'We know we're still in the race.'
E-mail: rschultz@madison.com
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MICHELLE STOCKER/THE CAPITAL TIMES
Alando Tucker turned in one of the defining games of his career at Wisconsin on Wednesday, amassing 27 points and 16 rebounds along with a key block in the closing minutes to preserve a 78-73 victory over Ohio State at the Kohl Center. 'I don't look at it as if I'm doing anything special,' he said. 'I'm looking at it as if you're a great player and you have a lot to bring to the team, these are the things you have to do.'
