The No. 2 Badgers (22-2 overall, 8-1 Big Ten) only committed five personal fouls, as the Wildcats (11-11, 1-8) only shot two free throws.
It was a tale of two games for the Badgers, who scraped their way to a 56-50 win in the Jan. 13 meeting with the Wildcats. Nevertheless, Wisconsin still anticipated the same type of game Northwestern would play Saturday.
"With the type of things Northwestern does, they don't set us up to foul," UW senior forward Alando Tucker said. "They're making a lot of hard cuts; they're not really posting hard, so there's not a lot of room for us to foul."
Wisconsin jumped out to an early 11-4 lead and never looked back, heading into the locker room at half-time up 33-19. The Badgers' 13-point lead was much in thanks due to the 12-0 advantage they held at the free-throw line in the first half.
But in the second half, all aspects of the game weren't as clean for Wisconsin. With just about eight minutes remaining, Northwestern was able to pull off a 14-0 run to pull within 10 points at 62-52.
"I was pleased with the way our guys fought back," NU head coach Bill Carmody said. "I thought our effort was pretty good, but not enough to beat that team."
Northwestern's run was sparked by freshman forward Kevin Coble's steal and breakaway lay-up. Coble, who sat out the previous game against Wisconsin with an ankle injury, finished with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
"He's a good shooter, and he understands the offense really well," UW head coach Bo Ryan said. "Sometimes maybe when you're hurt and sitting out, you get a chance to see things."
Behind Coble, Northwestern was able to sustain a couple scoring runs throughout the game, but Wisconsin always answered with one of its own.
"It was a streaky game, but we had our streak, too," Ryan said.
After hitting their first four 3-point attempts of the second half, the Badgers built their lead up to 24, the largest of the game, before Coble and the Wildcats stormed back.
"After halftime, we wanted come and put them away early," Tucker said. "We were really aggressive offensively and defensively; we disrupted their offense."
Tucker combated Coble's scoring barrage with a team-high 20 points, but it was the contributions from Wisconsin's backcourt that made the difference.
Kammron Taylor scored 15 points and dished out three assists while Michael Flowers posted 12 points and four assists.
"They were a settling factor for the other guys," Ryan said of the Badgers' starting guards. "They [were] pretty efficient on offense, and on defense they were solid."
Taylor and Flowers were both aggressively looking for their outside shots, and they were hitting them. Taylor connected on 3-of-6 three-pointers and Flowers hit 2-of-3 from behind the line.
"Shots were coming and I was just trying to get myself in good position," Flowers said. "Kam and Tuck draw a lot of guys, so I'm often left open on the wing, and they pass me the ball with confidence that I'm going to knock it down, and I just let it fly."
Wisconsin finished 16-of-20 from the free-throw line while Northwestern was a mere 1-for-2.
"You take 80 [percent] anytime," Ryan said. "You don't always get there, but it's a long season."
