After struggling through a rather lackluster first half, Wisconsin exploded out of the locker room to play some of its finest basketball of the season en route to a 73-44 victory over Northwestern on Wisconsin senior night.
The Badgers opened the game by quickly taking a six-point lead with strong inside play and tough defense. However, the Wildcats scored six straight in order to tie the game, and it became apparent that the Badgers would have a battle on their hands at the Kohl Center.
Both teams struggled to find the basket with consistency, as the Badgers led by as many as six and trailed by as many as four during the first half. Heading into the locker rooms the game had been a defensive battle, featuring rough play under both teams’ baskets.
Leading 26-24 at the beginning of the second half, the Badgers came out and dominated the Wildcats, outscoring them by 27 points in the second half.
“I didn’t say anything different; if I’d have come up with a clever line I might start writing these things down,” said head coach Bo Ryan. “It was, okay, its zero-zero at half time, we’ve got to keep doing what we’ve talked about yesterday.”
The Badgers shot a blistering 71 percent in the second half, connecting on nearly 60 percent of their three point attempts. Leading the charge for the Badgers was Penney, who had his second consecutive double-double, scoring 15 points while also grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds. He was one of five Badgers who scored in double digits, a figure that has added up to success for the Badgers so far this year.
“When five guys get in double figures, that’s a real good sign,” said Ryan. “I don’t say we have got to have five guys, but its not uncommon to have the scoring pretty balanced.”
The Badger defense also clamped down on what looked like a tired Northwestern team. The Wildcats shot only 39 percent in the second half and turned the ball over 15 times, as compared to only 10 turnovers for the Badgers. Northwestern managed only four points in the first ten minutes of the second half.
“Tavaras [Hardy] told me that he was exhausted and worn out,” said Northwestern coach Bill Carmody. “We didn’t really practice too much [Thursday and Friday], and it really showed tonight in our play. But Wisconsin played a 90-point game against OSU and they had a lot of life, so that’s not an excuse.”
The Wildcats had only Jitim Young in double figures, as he scored a game-high 17 points. The lack of a balanced scoring attack allowed the Badgers to focus on taking away NU star Tavaras Hardy, a luxury Carmody acknowledged the Wildcats did not have facing the Badger offense.
“We couldn’t stop them; they were penetrating on us and the thing about this team is that it is so balanced,” said Carmody. “You can’t just stop one guy, because they probably had four or five guys in double figures. There are too many guys to stop and that is usually the sign of a pretty good team.”
While the hot start in the second half is nothing unusual for the Badgers, it was the first time all season that they have been able to win a game without allowing the other team to make some sort of a late-game run at them.
“It seemed like we, I hate to say, packed it in; but I thought our guys were tired,” said Carmody. “They knew this was a tough place to play and not many teams win here. They just weren’t able to mount any kind of opposition here in the second half.”
The Badgers are now 10-1 at the Kohl Center this season, and the win keeps them in fourth place in the Big Ten with a league record of 7-5. Northwestern falls to 4-6 in the conference, leaving them in eighth place.
