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2005 BIG TEN
MEN'S BASKETBALL
TOURNAMENT
Game Seven • March 11, 2005 • United Center • Chicago, Ill.
#3 Wisconsin 60 (21-7), #6 Ohio State 49 (20-12)
Wisconsin advances to play Iowa at 3:05 p.m. CST Saturday

GAME NOTES
The No. 3 seed improves to 5-7 in Big Ten Tournament (BTT) games, including a 4-3 mark vs. No. 6 seeds.  Wisconsin improves to 8-6 in BTT games, including winning four straight, and 1-0 as a No. 3 seed.  The Badgers also improve to 4-4 in quarterfinal contests and 6-5 in BTT games played at the United Center.  Ohio State falls to 3-3 in BTT quarterfinal games and 8-7 overall in BTT contests.  The Buckeyes also drop to 3-3 in BTT games played at the United Center.  The No. 6 seed record falls to 12-6 in the eight years of the BTT.

Wisconsin advances to play Iowa in the semifinals tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. CST.  The Badgers are 1-2 in BTT semifinal contests.  Wisconsin downed Iowa in the only regular season meeting (72-69) in Madison on 2/9/05.

Wisconsin improves to 3-0 vs. Ohio State this season and 1-1 in BTT games.  The Buckeyes upset the Badgers (58-50) in the 2003 BTT quarterfinals when Wisconsin was a No. 1 seed.  Ohio State went on to win the 2003 BTT.

Ohio State ends its season losing four of its last six.  The Buckeyes finish with a 20-12 overall record.

Ohio State's Terence Dials scored his 500th point of the season at the 18:10 mark of the second half.  Dials finished with a team-high 12 points (6-12 FG).

Wisconsin's bench scored 17 of its first 21 points of the game.  The Badgers' bench out-scored their own starters 34-26.

Wisconsin's Zach Morley combined for five points in the two regular season meetings (0 at home vs. Ohio State and 5 on the road at Ohio State).  Morley tallied a game and career-high 23 points (8-11 FG, 1-3 3-PT FG, 6-6 FT), besting his previous career high by one point.  The 23 points rank third-best in Wisconsin single game BTT history.

Wisconsin improved to 19-1 when leading at the half, while Ohio State falls to 2-8 when trailing at the break.  Teams are 5-2 when leading at the half in 2005 BTT games, with the only comebacks being Ohio State vs. Penn State and Northwestern vs. Michigan in the first round.  BTT teams are 4-0 when netting 71 points or more.  BTT teams that have scored 70 points or less are 2-6.

No team in the first eight games of the BTT has shot 50 percent or better from the field.  Illinois has the best shooting percentage for a single game, converting 48.1 percent (25-52) of its attempts vs. Northwestern in game four.  BTT teams have been playing great defense in the first seven games; teams are shooting a cumulative 40.7 percent (309-759) from the field.

Ohio State converted only 2-20 (.100) from beyond the arc.  The two triples equal a team season low, while its .100 percentage is its second lowest of the season.  The Buckeyes shot a season-low .095 (2-21) vs. Minnesota on 1/15/05.

Ohio State netted a season-low 49 points.  Teams that have scored 49 points or less have never won a BTT contest (0-8) in the eight years of the tournament.

Wisconsin's nine turnovers are the fewest in the seven games of the 2005 BTT.

The seven BTT teams that have lost have made only 38.0 percent (144-379) of its field goal attempts.  The winning BTT teams are averaging 67.3 ppg, while the losers are averaging 57.3 ppg.

Session three's attendance was 21,517.  The three-session total is 63,395.

Saturday's Schedule:
Game 8 -- #1 Illinois (30-1) vs. #5 Minnesota (21-9), 12:40 p.m. (CBS)
Game 9 -- #3 Wisconsin (21-7) vs. #7 Iowa (21-10), 3:05 p.m. (CBS)