SPORTS
Badgers survive scare from Wolverines
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Also by Ben Voelkel:
- Beckum shut down by Vols defense (January 21, 2008)
- Badgers bowled over in Tampa (January 21, 2008)
- Football Report Card (January 21, 2008)
- Wisconsin wins with 'throwback' style (January 21, 2008)
- To fans, Badger season feels like roller coaster ride (January 21, 2008)
Related Stories:
- UW continues to battle top-20 rivals (January 28, 2005)
- Klingelhoets' Badgers to host Spartans, Wolverines (April 23, 2004)
- First-place Wolverines invade Kohl Center (February 26, 2003)
- Badgers prepare for tough weekend (November 7, 2003)
- Big Ten buried by play of Gophers (November 7, 2002)
by Ben Voelkel
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Winning the second time you play a team in the Big Ten is no
easy task. Wisconsin got its first taste of that this season Tuesday night
against Michigan in a back-and-forth conference slugfest.
Despite running away with a 16-point victory in the teams’
first meeting Jan. 2, the Badgers were given a much bigger fight this time by
the Wolverines and needed a late 3-pointer from forward Marcus Landry to escape
with a 64-61 win.
“We just figured there’s going to be a lot of games like
this,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “Earlier in the year [the Wolverines]
weren’t moving like they’re moving now, and defensively not just in the zone,
but the man-to-man — they have more experience.”
Wisconsin withstood 20 Michigan offensive rebounds and a
26-point outburst from Wolverine freshman Manny Harris to win the type of game
that they will need to continue their success.
“Those are the games you’re going to have to win,” forward
Joe Krabbenhoft said. “If you want to get — I’m not even going to say it,
‘cause I don’t want to say ‘Big Ten championship’ or anything like that — but
if you want to get to that level, these are the games you’re going to have to
win in the Big Ten.”
With Wisconsin up one with just under a minute remaining,
Harris drove the ball into the paint guarded by Trevon Hughes. Sinking in the
lane to help his backcourt mate, Michael Flowers took a swipe at Harris’
dribble and knocked the ball free. After a scrum, Krabbenhoft emerged with the
ball and called timeout.
On the ensuing UW possession, Hughes played off a pick near
the top of the key and drove toward the baseline. Finding his drive cut off, he
picked up his dribble, turned and found Landry open on the right wing for a
three that the junior drilled to extend the lead to four.
“I thought Trevon was going to come off the ball screen and
shoot it, so I was ready to go to the glass,” Landry said. “But I seen he kept
driving. … He picked up his dribble and I was there to release him because he
had nowhere to go.”
After having his shot blocked on the previous possession,
Landry put the negative out of his mind for the game clincher.
“I was kind of down; I couldn’t really get my shot off in
the paint like I wanted to,” Landry said. “I forgot about it and got the opportunity
to shoot the ball, and just shot it.”
With Michigan trailing only by one at 40-39 and with the
ball coming out of a timeout with 14 minutes and 35 seconds remaining, Ryan
made a crucial substitution. In came center Greg Stiemsma, who didn’t play at all
the previous game against Northwestern and played just one minute in the first
half after picking up a quick foul and turnover.
“I thought there was some stuff around the rim that he
needed to go in there and clean up for us,” Ryan said.
The substitution paid instant dividends, as Stiemsma
spearheaded an 11-3 Wisconsin run — capped by a Michael Flowers rebound and
coast-to-coast spinning layup — that forced Michigan head coach John Beilein to
call a timeout.
On Michigan’s first possession, Stiemsma emphatically turned
away Epke Udoh’s attempt as the shot clock was winding down — his first of two
blocks during the run — and then rebounded the Wolverine’s subsequent miss.
After Hughes buried a three to extend UW’s lead to four,
Stiemsma stood his ground on the low block and took a charge from a
baseline-driving Harris.
Stiemsma would add some offense to the mix with a layup in
the paint to make it a six-point UW lead and another block two minutes later.
“He came in in the first half and I don’t like saying it,
but he had one foul and one turnover,” Krabbenhoft said. “But then he forgot
about it, he kept playing and kept his head up.
“He came in in the second half and had two huge blocks, a
huge layup, just a bunch of energy. That’s what we need from guys like Greg
coming in off the bench.”
Wisconsin extended its lead to as many as 10 in the first
half, only to see Michigan slowly chip away at the margin and trail by only
four at the break. That set the stage for the rest of the back-and-forth
affair.
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