[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Despite all the travel problems Florida International encountered prior to Saturday's game against the No. 12 Wisconsin men's basketball team, the Golden Panthers still came to play.

"That didn't look like a team that wasn't rested," Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. "That looked like a team that came to play."

However, the Golden Panthers' run quickly came to an end, as the Badgers cruised to a 79-63 victory.

Florida International (3-5, 0-0 Sun Belt) put up a fight in the first half, exchanging leads back and forth with Wisconsin (7-1, 0-0 Big Ten) early on.

FIU's first nine points came from three-pointers, two coming from senior guard and Puerto Rico native Johwen Villegas.

Villegas scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-10 three-point shooting. Only one shot from Villegas was inside the arc.

After the game, Florida International head coach Sergio Rouco joked that Villegas, a transfer from Southeastern Community College in Iowa, may shoot the ball better in the cold Midwest winter weather.

"I think I need to bring [Villegas] up here to the Midwest more often," Rouco said. "Maybe this beautiful weather that you all have attracts something in him that he can make shots."

While Villegas' outside shooting kept Florida International within striking distance for at least the first half of the game, it was Wisconsin's outside shooting that put it away.

Freshman guard Jason Bohannon went on a little run in the first half, hitting three treys for all of his nine points.

Florida International was only down by 11 at halftime, but at the start of the second half, senior guard Kammron Taylor went on a run of his own.

Taylor came out and hit three trifectas in the first five minutes of the second half to spoil any chances of an FIU comeback, finishing the game with a team-high 16 points while shooting a perfect four-for-four from beyond the three-point arc.

While both Bohannon and Taylor took over the game at certain points, it came from within the offense and none of the shots were forced.

"We don't go out and try to force anything," Taylor said. "The shots that everybody was hitting came from teammates finding each other."

"We found the open shots and reversed the ball really well," Bohannon added. "They just happened to find me, and I hit the open shot. It was just great team work."

So open, in fact, it came as somewhat of a shock.

"I might have made those if I was out there on the court," Ryan said. "I couldn't believe how wide-open [they were]."

For Bohannon, Saturday's game was just another stride in his progression.

Averaging 4.9 points per game, it appears as though the freshman has found his niche on the team — outside shooting, as he has attempted a team-high 26 three-point shots while connecting on 30.8 percent of them thus far.

And that's just what his coaches and teammates want him to do.

"He's knocking down the shots," senior forward Alando Tucker said. "That's what he's been doing since he's stepped on the court. He's a smart player, and that's one of the things that's going to carry him a long way in a Wisconsin uniform."

"He is a player," Ryan added. "You have to earn your minutes, and Jason has earned them."

Next up for Wisconsin will be Winthrop at home tonight, which will begin a key stretch during the non-conference schedule. The Badgers' next five games come against 2006 NCAA tournament teams — Winthrop, at No. 8 Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, No. 2 Pittsburgh and Pacific.

"This is why people were saying our non-conference schedule was one of the toughest in the country," Ryan said. "If we are going to be playing well in the Big Ten, we need to play well against the teams coming up."