Ohio State cooled off Northwestern's hot start to the season when they handed the Wildcats a 73-57 beatdown at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Sunday night.

The Buckeyes jumped out to a 14-3 lead and were in control from start to finish as Northwestern’s offense failed to get into any sort of a rhythm.

The Wildcats were abysmal shooting the ball from everywhere. They shot 28.4% from the field, 29% from beyond the arc and 58.8% at the line. Those numbers rarely lead to wins, especially against a team that has won 20 or more games for five straight seasons and which stars a potential first-round pick in Brice Sensabaugh

Sensabaugh was the game's leading scorer with 18 points, Chase Audige led the Wildcats and was just behind Sensabaugh with 16.

Sensabaugh never blew the doors off the Wildcats, but he was always there to knock down a jumper and silence the crowd whenever it seemed like Northwestern might be getting within striking distance.

Here are our takeaways from the disappointing loss to Ohio State that dropped Northwestern’s record to 10-3 (1-1 Big Ten):

Northwestern's offense got off to slow starts in the past and has used their defense to get themselves back in it. But against a team as explosive as Ohio State, that strategy was blown out of the water.

"It's going to be impossible [to win] in the Big Ten when you shoot like that," Collins said.

Northwestern won the second half 40-38, but that didn't matter when they spotted the Buckeyes an 18-point lead in the first half by making just seven shots. Collins didn't attribute the second-half scoring shift to anything schematically different.

"We were running a lot of the same things," Collins said. "If you look at the film, I thought we got a lot of open looks in the first half...

"It's not anybody's fault, but we have to make them. Especially around the basket, we got a ton of offensive rebounds."

While Northwestern was outrebounded by a decent margin, they offensively outrebounded Ohio State 14-10. Collins credited Matt Nicholson for grabbing eight offensive rebounds, and a total of 13, in a complicated game for the 7-footer.

He finished with 13 rebounds and two blocks, but was held scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting and went 0-for-4 at the free throw line.

Ty Berry, who finished with 11 points, talked postgame about Northwestern increasing their physicality to avoid early deficits.

"I would say that we need to come out and be the most physical team from the jump," Berry said. "That's something we have to work on.

"If we let them try to bully us, it is hard to play from behind when you put yourself in that [position], it's hard to come back."

No one escapes blame for Northwestern's offensive struggles, but the Wildcats had serious trouble finding points in the post or in the paint. Northwestern got zero points from Robbie Beran, Nicholson and Tydus Verhoeven in the first half, and just eight points over the course of the game.

The Wildcats were outscored 32-14 in points in the paint, outrebounded 46-37 and the Buckeyes blocked seven shots to Northwestern's five.

Even with the size of Nicholson, the mobility of Verhoeven and the shooting of Beran, the Buckeyes dictated terms. Collins acknowledged their struggles.

"Our frontcourt guys are 1-for-14 from the floor, and only two of those were threes, so they were 1-for-12 on twos," he said. "Then we didn't make free throws...

"It was kind of an avalanche for shooting and scoring tonight. It happens."

Collins was confident that they will keep playing a traditional big man and will not turn to any kind of small ball lineups in the near future.

"We run a four-around-one offense with spacing and we got 31 threes. I would venture to say 25 of them were wide open," Collins said. "So that's not the issue, it's not the spacing, it's not that. It's putting the ball in the basket."

Collins said he was committed to working with his trio of big guys to find them scoring opportunities and increase their conversion rates on the shots they are already taking.

"When they get an angle to the basket, we just have to keep working on it in practice and hope that it carriess over," he said. "We need those guys to be opportunistic.

"To get only three field goals out of those three guys, we need more."

If you were one of the Wildcat fans eyeing March Madness, put those hopes on hold. I'll admit I was among those eyeing the spring calendar, but any chance of this team playing postseason involves the offense scoring at a much higher level than this.

With that being said, hold off on the panic button for now. Keep it nearby, but don't hit it. This has the makings of a very good Ohio State team that will likely make the tournament and will be one of the toughest teams in the conference this year.

This was an extraordinarily cold shooting night from Northwestern, and I would be stunned if the Wildcats hit these percentages from the field, beyond the arc and at the line again.

This was a cataclysmic convergence of poor shooting, which means that its unlikely to be the new normal. I'm not sure how much better Northwestern's true mean is from this, but this will not be the status quo for this team. The Big Ten is a very good basketball conference, but most teams do not have Ohio State's size, skill and strength.

It's understandable to be disappointed by this blowout, and plenty of Northwestern's flaws were laid bare. But this was never a team that was going to barnstorm to a Big Ten title, and Ohio State is flat out better right now. If the Wildcats want a path to March or a path over .500, they will do it by smothering teams that don't have the athletes or talent that Ohio State does on defense and creating fast-break opportunities.

If Illinois tunes up the Wildcats the same way the Buckeyes did, then it will be time to sound the alarm. But this team has earned another shot before they get written off as another Northwestern team that could not turn their December momentum into Big Ten production.