The Wisconsin men’s basketball team had a difficult time putting points on the board against the Xavier Musketeers, who dominated the game from tip-off and won 57-48. It was a low scoring night, with only one Badger reaching double digits. The team’s leading scorer, Devin Harris, was held to ten points in 29 minutes of play.

Entering the second half, the Badgers trailed 21-33, and the Musketeers’ lead hovered around 10 points for most of the half. The Badgers cut the Musketeers’ lead to as small as six points after Mike Wilkinson hit one of two from the line, making it 42-48 with 4:27 left on the clock.

The Badgers had foul trouble all night, with senior Charlie Wills receiving his fifth of the game with a little over two minutes to play. The Badgers then added a pair of twos by Wilkinson and Freddie Owens to put the game at 48-54, but it was not enough to gain control.

The Badgers trailed the entire game, struggling to gain momentum from the beginning of the first. Wills came through with an early deuce, giving the Badgers their first points of the game at 19:17, and followed it up with a three-pointer a few minutes later.

The Badger senior was 3-7 from the field on the night, with all three connections coming in the first half.

The Badgers were held to 35 percent field goal shooting, making 21 of 60 attempts, while the Musketeers ended with 45 percent, going 21-46 from the field. Wisconsin turned the ball over 14 times, but forced Xavier to do the same.

“I thought this was a very good game for our team,” said Xavier head coach Thad Matta. “Wisconsin did not have a great record, but I’m here to tell you that is a good basketball team. Basically the game was a war. Offensively, we made some big plays down the stretch.”

Compiled from staff reports