By Matt McCoy

To listen to Bucksline (1-28-13) with Tony White & Dave Cecutti click HERE:

Wisconsin is number one in the Big Ten in scoring defense and Ohio State is number two. In field goal percentage defense, Ohio State is number one and Wisconsin is number two. When the Buckeyes and Badgers meet Tuesday, safe to say, points will be hard to come by.

"Coach Matta really talked to us about valuing every possession and making every possession count," Ohio State sophomore forward Sam Thompson said. "We don't want to come down and jack up a quick bad shot in the first five or seven seconds of the shot clock and have to go down and defend for 35 seconds. That's playing into their hands."

Patience and toughness are needed in spades when you play Wisconsin who played two games last week in which neither team scored 50 points...a 49-47 loss to Michigan State and a 46-45 win over Minnesota.

"This is going to be a game where you're just going to have to power your way through it," 610 WTVN basketball analyst Tony White said on Bucksline Monday night. "It's not going to be fun to watch at times...if you're an Ohio State fan you're just going to have to fight your way through all the ugliness. It's going to be ugly at the offensive end, probably for both teams."

The Badgers, like Ohio State, are 5-2 in Big Ten play, tied for fourth in the conference and only a game behind co-leaders Indiana and Michigan.

JJ's kid comes home 

Wisconsin guard Traevon Jackson out of Westerville South, returns home tonight. Jackson is the son of former Ohio State star Jim Jackson and has come up big in some of the Badgers recent victories. He hit a key shot down the stretch when the Badgers won at Indiana two weeks ago and then Saturday hit the game winning shot, with under two seconds to go, in a one-point victory over Minnesota.

Former Ohio State assistant coach Dave Cecutti joined us on Bucksline Monday. Dave was a Buckeye assistant when J.J. was starring for O.S.U. from 1989-92.

"I think he's got great basketball savy," Cecutti said.  "That's sometimes something that you can't teach on the basketball floor. If you're a coach and you've got a Traevon Jackson, or in our case when we had a Jimmy Jackson, you go to that young man because all of the sudden that confidence kind of blossoms."

Jackson is just a sophomore. He barely played last season, sitting behind all Big Ten guard Jordan Taylor, but has been pressed into action this year after projected starting point guard Josh Gasser suffered a season ending knee injury.