Spearheaded by career performances from juniors Devin Harris and Mike Wilkinson, the UW men’s basketball team (13-3, 4-1) notched a decisive 76-56 home victory over Illinois (12-5, 3-3) Saturday afternoon.

The Badgers’ one-two punch was firing on all cylinders and nearly outscored the Illini themselves, as they combined to score 54 points on a sizzling 19-30 from the field.

“They’re a smart team. They’re a tough team, and their best two players played their best two games, maybe, in their career,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. “We didn’t rise up enough to compete with that.”

Wisconsin’s dynamic duo burst out of the gates, scoring 24 of the team’s first 26 points, and the Badgers entered the half with a 38-30 advantage.

As a team, UW connected on 14 of its 25 first-half shot attempts, while holding the Illini to just 11 made field goals on 28 attempts–including a meager 2-9 from beyond the arc.

Illinois would battle back in the game’s second stanza, however, and mounted a 10-4 run to start the half, making the score 44-40.

This proved to be the last time the Illini would get in striking distance, though.

Wilkinson would score seven unanswered points to stretch Wisconsin’s lead to 11, and the Badgers would hold a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game.

“I thought at the end of the half we had three or four possessions where we could have made it a closer game at halftime, and then we cut it to 44-40 and had the ball,” Weber said. “I tell the guys all the time that there are one or two possessions in the game that are going to make the difference, and you’d better grab it or it’s going to slip away and you’re not going to have a chance to get it. We turned it over when we had the ball, and then they scored and then we did something, and things just kind of fell apart after that.”

Part of the collapse Weber is referring to could be attributed to Illinois center Nick “The Chainsaw” Smith.

With the Illini trailing 49-42 at the 13:05 mark of the second half, Wilkinson slid by Smith for a slashing layup to extend the Badgers’ lead to nine points.

Appearing visibly frustrated, Smith ran to the offensive end, received a post-entry pass and was whistled for traveling.

Later dubbed as a “meltdown” by Coach Weber, Smith lost his composure and was assessed a technical foul.

“(Nick Smith’s technical foul) was very disappointing. It’s inexcusable. It definitely helped their momentum and hurt ours, there’s no doubt,” Weber said. “He gets frustrated, I understand that. But he can’t act like that. And the official, to his credit, tried not to call it. He told Nick, ‘Go get the ball.’ Nick hit the ball away, and he said, ‘Nick, go get the ball.’ He wasn’t going to call a ‘T,’ and Nick didn’t do it. So, he should be kissing the ref for giving him a chance like that.”

Saturday’s matchup between Illinois and Wisconsin had been billed as one of the most intriguing conference games of the season. Their clash not only captured interest because of its Big Ten title implications, but also because of the individual comparisons made between point guards Devin Harris and Dee Brown.

Prior to the season, Harris was named the conference’s preseason player of the year by the coaches, while Brown earned the same honor from the media.

The two guards’ duel on Saturday proved to be a one-sided affair, however.

Harris netted a career-high 30 points, connected on four of his seven attempts from beyond the arc and committed just one turnover in the Badgers’ lopsided victory.

Brown, on the other hand, had one of his poorest outings of the year. He scored just four points, misfired on each of his four three-point attempts and committed three turnovers on the day.

Harris and Brown will be pitted against one another again on Feb. 18, when Wisconsin and Illinois square off in the Illini’s Assembly Hall.

With Saturday’s win, Harris and the Badgers extended their home-winning streak to 24 games, which ranks as the second-longest stretch in school history.

Wisconsin will be in action again on Wednesday when the team travels to Columbus, Ohio to square with the Ohio State Buckeyes (9-9, 1-4).