MADISON, Wis. – Jared Sullinger wore out Wisconsin. Then William Buford put the Badgers away.

No. 3 Ohio State wasn’t going to give No. 19 Wisconsin a shot at another comeback.

Sullinger scored 24 points, and Buford hit a critical three-pointer down the stretch, helping the Buckeyes beat the Badgers 58-52 on Saturday.

Sullinger was shocked when he wasn’t double-teamed on defense to start the game, and he pounced immediately.

“I don’t think I saw single coverage since first part of the season of my freshman year,” Sullinger said. “When I saw that, I got excited. I decided to go to work.”

Bishop Luers graduate Deshaun Thomas scored 16 points and Buford added 11 for the Buckeyes (20-3, 8-2 Big Ten), who held on to their lead in the conference standings. Sullinger also had 10 rebounds.

With the victory, Ohio State ended a nine-game losing streak to Wisconsin in Madison – and avoided a repeat of last year’s comeback by the Badgers, who erased a second-half deficit to defeat the Buckeyes 71-67.

“What happened last year is last year,” said Sullinger, who became the 48th Ohio State player to score 1,000 career points. “We won, and that was the main goal.”

Ryan Evans scored 14 points for the Badgers (18-6, 7-4), who were 5 for 27 from three-point range.

Wisconsin has lost four home games in a season for the first time under Badgers coach Bo Ryan.

Inconsistent three-point shooting – and a failure to find other ways to score – has dogged the Badgers. But that didn’t mean Ohio State coach Thad Matta was happy to see Wisconsin put up so many threes.

“I was nervous as hell every time they let it go,” Matta said.

The Badgers had no early answer for Sullinger. He scored the Buckeyes’ first nine points, consistently getting the best of the player assigned to defend him, Jared Berggren. Sullinger finished the first half with 16 points.

“I let him get a couple of easy ones early, and that set the tone,” Berggren said. “A great player like him, once he gets a little bit of confidence, he’s hard to stop. A lot of it came early on. I let him get going. I’ve got to take a little blame myself for that one.”

Wisconsin later went to smaller but more mobile players, Evans and Mike Bruesewitz, in an attempt to slow down Sullinger.

Ryan said he “just wanted people who wanted to move their feet and not allow a pass to enter the post” against Sullinger. Ryan called it an “easy decision” but didn’t directly criticize the 6-foot-10 Berggren.

“I’m not going to sell out any particular players or anything,” Ryan said.

Buford said he urged Sullinger to take advantage of the way he was being defended.

“Bo Ryan is a great coach, I’m sure he had a strategy that he knew he was going to work,” Buford said. “Me personally, I don’t think you should put just one person on (Jared). That’s just me personally.”

IOWA 77, PENN STATE 64: In Iowa City, Iowa, Matt Gatens scored 18 points and Bryce Cartwright and Aaron White each scored 17 for the Hawkeyes (13-11, 5-6 Big Ten), who won their second straight after losing five of their previous six games.

Tim Frazier scored 23 points to lead the Nittany Lions (10-13, 2-8), who have lost four straight.

Iowa led by as many as 26 points in the second half, but Penn State trimmed the deficit to 50-36 with 13 minutes left. The Hawkeyes held their ground, and that lead never shrunk below double digits.