Last season the Wisconsin men’s basketball team barely came away with a win in their game against in-state rival Green Bay.

But this season, the frontcourt of the third-ranked Badgers made sure Wednesday’s rematch at the Kohl Center wasn’t quite as close as it was more than a year ago in Green Bay. Wisconsin’s starting frontcourt of Sam Dekker, Nigel Hayes and Frank Kaminsky combined for 64 points Wednesday night at the Kohl Center as the Badgers took care of their in-state rivals 84-60.

Coming into Wednesday’s game, everyone knew of Green Bay’s best player Keifer Sykes but the Wisconsin frontcourt’s offensive performance was more than enough to push past the Phoenix and Sykes — particularly in the second half. With Wisconsin up just 38-29 at the half, Dekker, Hayes and Kaminsky took over coming out of the intermission.

To open up the second half, both Dekker and Hayes combined to score the first 11 points of the half. After Josh Gasser made a free throw for UW, Hayes came right back and dropped in back-to-back three-pointers to open up Wisconsin’s lead to 19 points at 56-37.

It was a critical stretch to begin the second half for the upset-minded Phoenix as the Badgers would hold at least a 15 point lead over the remainder of the second half.

“We just came out in the second half and missed a couple of shots right at the rim and then boom,” Green Bay head coach Brian Wardle said. “Made a few mistakes, they hit a couple of threes, and the next thing you know you’re down double-digits.”

After not attempting a three-pointer all of last season, Hayes is 3-for-5 this season on three-point attempts. Hayes scored six of his career-high 25 points on three-pointers Wednesday night and finished the night 8-for-11 from the field. He also added 11 rebounds to tally his second-straight double-double of the season.

Wednesday’s performance from Hayes was just another presentation of his improvement from last season through three games this season. He’s a mismatch for any team, especially when he can consistently knock down shots from beyond the arc like he did Wednesday night.

“Hayes is good. Hayes is really good,” Wardle said. “He’s improved. He’s a big strong mismatch because he’s kind of an inside-out forward that can do a lot of things. He hurt us.

“When Hayes is making threes, he’s a tough matchup.”

It was a simple plan of attack for Hayes as he recognized that his new deep threat gives him plenty of open space to work with. It’s just a matter of reading the defense.

“I was just trying to take what they gave me,” Hayes said. “They were playing off and they weren’t respecting my shot and rightfully so going off last year’s film and all that. … And now with my new expanded game that I have, I take what the defense gives me, and that was a couple of jump shots.”

Other than Hayes, both Dekker and Kaminsky chipped in solid nights as well for the Badgers. Kaminsky (20) and Dekker (19) were second and third respectively in scoring for UW Wednesday night. Kaminsky also hauled in 15 rebounds and blocked seven shots. All-in-all, Hayes, Dekker and Kaminsky combined for 64 of Wisconsin’s 84 points and 30 of their 45 rebounds. Collectively, the trio went 24-for-36 (66.7 percent) from the floor.

The trio’s ability to attack the paint also forced Green Bay into early fouls which plagued the Phoenix for the majority of the first half. Green Bay committed 15 first half fouls with big men Greg Mays (3), Kenneth Lowe (2), Alfonzo McKinnie (3) and Henry Uwadiae (3) causing 11 of those 15 fouls. In the first half the Phoenix sent Wisconsin to the charity stripe 23 times with Kaminsky, Hayes and Dekker combining to shoot 19 of those.

“That was a pretty good job those three guys did, obviously, and they worked,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said.

It was a performance that Kaminsky credits to the depth of this Wisconsin team. In addition to Kaminsky, Hayes and Dekker, forwards Vitto Brown and Duje Dukan added eight points and six rebounds as well. The play from the Wisconsin frontcourt is one that Kaminsky hopes to see more consistently.

“We have a lot of weapons on this team,” Kaminsky said. “This is a pretty deep team and things were clicking on the right cylinders for us tonight and we went out and everyone had a good game. I don’t see why we can’t do this more going forward.”

Wisconsin’s frontcourt will look to continue leading the way for the Badgers beginning with Boise State at home Saturday night. And while the frontcourt won’t be expected to always put up the numbers they did Wednesday night, Kaminsky was quick to give his opinion on whether or not they can put numbers like that up again.

“Why not,” he said.