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‘Boo’hannon laughs last in return

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Also by Dave McGrath:

by Dave McGrath

Monday, January 29, 2007

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The old saying goes, "You can never go home again." Well, Wisconsin freshman Jason Bohannon did go home — he just wasn't really welcome, at least not by the Iowa crowd.

The guard, born in Iowa City and one of Iowa's top prep hoopsters in high school, received a very cold reception from his home state. Playing only three minutes, Bohannon was raucously booed by the home crowd every time he touched the ball.

"That's all part of college basketball," said Iowa head coach Steve Alford, who recruited Bohannon. "Luke Recker, when he played here and went back to Indiana, that's what he got. That's just going to happen when you leave the state."

Bohannon, however, showed some spunk when he hit a three-pointer on his first shot, silencing the boos, if only momentarily.

After the game, Bohannon said it felt "really good" to be able to come into Iowa City and sink his first shot.

"I think that helps some people, to be honest with you," UW head coach Bo Ryan said, after playing coy with the media about not noticing the crowd getting on Bohannon.

Alford called Bohannon a "great person' and a "terrific player," and offered high praise for the whole of Wisconsin's freshman backcourt. In addition to Bohannon, Alford also had targeted Trevon Hughes as a good fit for the Hawkeyes.

"I think those two individuals, both being freshmen, are getting to learn behind some really good juniors and seniors," Alford said. "They'll wait their turn and their turn will come, but they should be having a lot of fun on a very good team."

Kam the Distributor

Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor struggled through another slow-shooting game Saturday afternoon, making only one of his seven shots, but the senior guard didn't let that stop him from being productive.

Taylor finished with only five points, but after a 1-for-6 start, he took on the role of distributor, dishing out five assists while taking only one more shot the rest of the game.

"Kam took very few shots in the second half, had three really good assists and played good defense," Ryan said.

Taylor credited his performance to maturity, citing his shooting struggles from a year ago in Big Ten play as learning experiences he has put to good use.

"Last year I went through a phase where if I wasn't scoring, I wasn't contributing in any other way to help the team," Taylor said. "This year, I find other ways to contribute."

Polar Bear heats up

Going into halftime, Tucker was rocket-hot, shooting 6-for-6 from the field. The rest of the Badgers, however, were a combined 3-of-17 from the floor. The lack of help for Tucker allowed the Iowa defense to double- and triple-team the Badgers' Wooden Award candidate and close the UW lead to only four points.

In the second half, however, Brian Butch came alive and ignited the Badger offense. "Nobody's shot but Tuck's was falling in the first half and for Butch to come out and hit those three or four shots that he hit, it was a big boost for our team," Taylor said. "Once you saw Butch scoring, then [Marcus Landry] got into it and it was just like a domino effect. It was a big boost for us."

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Anonymous (January 30, 2007 @ 12:10pm):

"You can never go home again," is in no way a saying in the context that you mean it.

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