It rains a lot in Seattle, but on Saturday the downpour came from Wisconsin (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten). In their first trip to the Emerald City since 1955, the Badgers shook off a sluggish start and rolled past Washington (14-15, 6-12) 90-73, bouncing back from a disappointing loss to Oregon (11-18, 4-14) earlier in the week.
Wisconsin opened the afternoon by hoisting four straight threes, the only make coming from freshman big man Aleksas Bieliauskas, just three days after attempting a school-record 45 from deep. Once the Badgers settled in thanks to three straight gritty layups from senior ball handler Nick Boyd, though, the shots started falling. They built an early eight-point lead and never let the Huskies back up for air.
Late in the second half, senior sixth man Braeden Carrington nailed back-to-back-to-back threes to extend their lead to 24, and when senior guard Isaac Gard checked in late, it served as the cue for party time in Madtown.
The Badgers finished with 38 3-point attempts, bringing their two-game total to a staggering 82, the pinnacle of their offensive identity they’ve leaned into down the stretch.
It was an all-around rout today, but it was primarily funded by Nick Boyd, junior forward Nolan Winter and Carrington, the three being the only players on the Badgers to put up double-digit points.
Boyd and Winter had what are considered average games at this point with 22 and 13 points respectively, as well as each putting up nine boards and Boyd adding five assists.
It was a vastly different night for Carrington, though. Carrington had a career high 32 points, with 23 of them coming in the second half. Carrington’s reckoning stemmed from his 3-point game, nailing nine of them in the win. Carrington also added four boards and three assists.
In addition to an important bounce-back from a questionable performance on Wednesday, this game had large Big Ten Tournament implications. With the win, the Badgers clinched the highly-coveted double bye, putting them in the position to play the villain this March.
Wisconsin hosts Maryland (11-17, 4-13) on Wednesday, March 4 and travels to Mackey Arena to face No. 8 Purdue (22-6, 12-5) on Saturday, March 7 to close out the season. A win against Purdue would extend their streak of AP top-10 ranked victories to four and could boast a huge endorsement for a top five seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
