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DETROIT — During Friday’s pre-game introductions, Michael
Flowers and Stephen Curry met at half court and shared a brief embrace.

It was the last time Davidson’s star would be within
Flowers’ grasp.

Over the next 40 minutes, Curry beat Flowers and the Badgers
in just about every way he possibly could have. He forced steals. He made
3-pointers. He hit layups and free throws. He dished it out to teammates.

And when it was all said and done the scoreboard at Ford
Field read Davidson 73, Wisconsin 56; the Badgers’ season had reached its end
in the Sweet 16.

“We felt like we could have came in here and got a win
… but that’s not the story right now,” forward Joe Krabbenhoft said.
“The story is they outplayed us. The ball was thrown up, and they
outplayed us from the tip.”

For one half, though, the two teams played pretty evenly,
and after the first 20 minutes of play the score was tied at 36.

Davidson quickly jumped out to an eight-point lead in the
second half, but it looked like Wisconsin was wearing the Wildcats down when
the Badgers started drawing fouls and cut the lead to 48-45 with just under 14
minutes left in the game.

Curry then hit consecutive 3-pointers, the start of an 18-3
run that stretched the Davidson lead to 21, and Wisconsin was never again within
striking distance.

It was all Curry down the stretch. The sophomore scored 22
points after the break–two more than the entire Badger team did in that
span–to lift the Wildcats to the win.

By the time the guard checked out with under a minute to
play he had totaled 33 points, stole the ball four times, handed out four
assists and led Davidson to a 17-point win that left the Badgers, but not his
coach, stunned.

“I stopped being amazed with Curry back in December of
last year,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said of the performance.
“What he did today is what I expect from him. He does that so
consistently.”

“Curry is a great second-half player,” forward
Marcus Landry said. “He came out and he proved that once again
today.”

In Davidson’s first two tournament games, wins over Gonzaga
and Georgetown, Curry had scored a combined 55 points in the second half.

“I try not to force anything,” Curry said.
“It’s hard for a defense to sustain themselves for a whole 40 minutes.
Eventually you’ll find yourself open.”

As Curry heated up, the Badgers cooled off. Wisconsin shot
23.8 percent from the field in the second half and made just three field goals
over the game’s final 13 minutes of play.

“I think that was probably one of our worst halves of
basketball,” forward Brian Butch said. “We picked a bad time to play
it.”

It was Michael Flowers, who earned All-Big Ten defensive
team honors this season, that was matched up with Curry Friday, but the senior
had trouble sticking with the speedy shooter.

“I think they did a good job running him off of double
screens, sometimes even triple screens,” Flowers said. “He doesn’t
need that much time to catch the ball and release it. You know, that’s what
their game plan was and they executed it pretty well.”

Even when Flowers was in position, Curry would still hit
3-pointers. He finished the game 6-of-11 from behind the arc.

“[Curry’s] confidence is through the roof,”
Krabbenhoft said. “He thinks he’s Kobe Bryant out there, and that’s not a
knock; that’s a compliment. Every time he put up a shot it went it in, it
seemed like.”

Still, Bo Ryan felt Wisconsin was capable of winning even if
Curry had a good game — but only if the Badgers could shut down the rest of
the Wildcats.

UW was unable to do that, however.

Wildcat guard Jason Richards, the nation’s leader in
assists, finished the game with 11 points and 13 assists. He and Bart Barr, who
hit a couple of big 3-pointers, were able to give Curry some help. Forward
Andrew Lovedale also went 5-of-5 and scored 12 points.

With the rest of Davidson’s roster contributing, Wisconsin
was unable to cut down the second-half deficit.

“I felt like we were always in it,” forward Brian
Butch said. “I felt like we just needed to make some plays, and we didn’t
make any plays. They kept on making plays.”

Wisconsin had mounted a comeback from a double-digit deficit
in the Big Ten Tournament semi-finals against Michigan State, but Davidson
simply refused to let UW back in the game Friday.

“I’m always positive about playing from behind,”
Ryan said. “But there are some teams you can play from behind against
better.”

Davidson, with the ability to hit 3-pointers seemingly every
time Wisconsin made a basket, was not one of those teams.

“Davidson played a great game,” guard Jason
Bohannon said. “They shot really well from three and made the shots when
it counted, and that’s why they won the game.”

Davidson’s win was its 25th in a row and its third straight
upset victory of the NCAA Tournament.

For the second consecutive year, Wisconsin’s season came to
an end at the hands of a lower seed — this time in the Sweet 16 with a trip to
the Elite Eight on the line.

The Badgers finish the season with a 31-5 record and Big Ten
regular season and tournament titles, but that doesn’t ease the pain of being
defeated.

“It’s always tough,” Krabbenhoft said of losing.
“Ask anyone who’s involved with college basketball.”