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Badgers celebrate anniversary, down Wildcats
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Also by Mike Ackerstein:
- Do 'roids fuel new 'AG'? (January 21, 2008)
- Business as usual: Badgers take care of Panthers (December 13, 2007)
- Wisconsin hits road for Milwaukee (December 12, 2007)
- Heisman pressures could tackle Tebow (December 10, 2007)
Related Stories:
- UW celebrates silver anniversary (October 6, 2006)
- Basketball comes up empty-handed (January 31, 2002)
- Stone, Wisconsin prepare for Sunday showdown with Northwestern (January 23, 2004)
- Men's basketball faces off against Northwestern (January 30, 2002)
- Men's basketball tames the Wildcats (February 11, 2002)
by Mike Ackerstein
Monday, January 21, 2008
As the University of Wisconsin continued its celebration of
the Kohl Center’s 10th anniversary, this time with halftime remarks from
Athletic Director Barry Alvarez (among others) focused heavily on the winning
ways the stadium has brought to programs housed within it, the men’s basketball
team fittingly notched their ninth-straight victory Saturday night with a 62-50
win over Northwestern.
After scoring a mere 22 points in the first half, and
holding just a two-point lead at the midway point, No. 17 Wisconsin (15-2, 5-0)
finally got it together in the second half, opening with an 13-2 run that
helped the team remain perfect in Big Ten play with the win over Northwestern
(6-9, 0-5).
“Coming out in the second half [Wisconsin] just really
defended,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. “It quickly went from a close
game at half to a 10-point game.
“They do what they had to do on a night when maybe it wasn’t
their best night.”
Wisconsin improved their shooting percentage from 41.2
percent in the first half to an impressive 55.6 percent in the second half and
showed late in the game why they were atop the conference standings while
Northwestern remains stuck at the bottom.
“Sometimes you just have to get smacked, figuratively, to
understand what we need to do with the ball,” Ryan said, “but it’s a 40-minute
game, and we got it corrected in the second half.”
UW’s win was largely sparked by the defensive effort turned
in by Joe Krabbenhoft who drew the assignment of covering NU’s leading scorer
Kevin Coble and shut the sophomore down for most of the night.
Though Ryan offered credit to Krabbenhoft for his defensive
stand, he also cited the other four players’ roles.
“You don’t shut
a Coble down [with] just one guy, but one guy is the start of it, and then
you’ve got to make sure your support is there. Our support was good, and
[Krabbenhoft’s] positioning was very good.”
Though Coble entered the game averaging 18.4 points per
contest, Krabbenhoft’s defense limited the forward to a season-low eight points
on 3-8 shooting from the field.
“Tonight was a very tough matchup
for me,” Krabbenhoft said. “Kevin Coble is a very tough player; … collectively
I thought we all did a good job on him. I thought our whole team just did a
great job.”
Marcus Landry led the Badgers on the offensive end, and with
a 21-point effort became the fifth different Badger in each of the team’s first
five conference games to notch a 20-plus point effort.
On a night that featured a highlight video commemorating
memorable moments in the Kohl Centers history, Landry’s performance added a new
accomplishment to the list.
“I don’t think it’s ever happened in the history of the
game,” Ryan said. “Would anybody in their wildest dream ever imagine that that
would happen?”
Freshman Jon Leuer’s 25-point effort against Michigan
started the streak, and Brian Butch, Trevon Hughes and Michael Flowers were the
other Badgers contributing to the achievement.
“I believe someone else will have 20 points the next game,”
Landry said. “The scoring is so well-balanced that on any given night a guy can
score double-digits. … Tonight just happened to be my night.”
“I’m very proud because it just shows how unselfish we are
as a team, and it shows that we can get the job done.”
Also helping the Badgers in the win was the team’s ability
to get to the free-throw line. Wisconsin shot 24-37 from the stripe while
Northwestern’s mark was just 10-14.
Six of UW’s free throws came from Trevon Hughes, and they were
the sophomore’s only points. The guard shot 0-6 from the field and did not make
a field goal for the first time all season.
Leuer was the only other Badger playing who did not sink a
bucket, but the freshman only logged four minutes in the game.
“I didn’t play Jon Leuer as a freshman very much today,”
Ryan said, but he added the move would not be a season-long one.
“Jon’s still going to play a lot this year,” Ryan said.”
Against NU’s tricky 1-3-1 zone defense and Princeton-style
offense, UW was forced to favor experience over depth, ultimately going with
just a six-man rotation for most of the game that left the young Leuer on the
bench.
“We had the guys on the floor that could handle this
offense,” Ryan said. “Those are the guys that have handled it well and have
experience against it.”
Wisconsin’s next game will come Tuesday when they host
Michigan at the Kohl Center.
Anonymous (January 22, 2008 @ 11:05am):
Longest. Lede. Ever.
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