While one team’s NCAA tournament hopes got weaker Saturday, another’s got stronger.
Thanks to Kirk Penney’s 30 points, 27 of which came in the second half, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team was able to overcome a double-digit deficit to defeat Minnesota 67-62.
The victory moves the Badgers (16-11, 9-5 Big Ten) into third-place in the conference standings behind co-leaders Ohio State and Indiana. The Gophers (14-9, 7-5 Big Ten) now fall into a fourth-place tie with Illinois.
Penney single-handedly brought Wisconsin back from behind to win its fourth game in a row. UW, down by as many as 13 in the second half, scored 21 points on its final 10 possessions, due in part to crucial plays on Penney’s behalf.
The turnaround point for the Badgers came with 41.4 seconds left when Penney accepted a bounce pass from Mike Wilkinson for a lay-up and a follow-up free throw. Penney converted on the three-point play to put UW up 62-60 — its first lead of the half. Minnesota was unable to score on its next trip down the court, leading to another Penney lay-up with 21 seconds left.
Once again UW stopped the Gophers’ attempt to score when Penney grabbed a defensive rebound, forcing UM forward Tavarus Bennett to foul Penney and send him to the line for two.
Penney made one of his shots to put Wisconsin up by five and make it a two-possession game for Minnesota. UM center Jerry Holman, who led the team with 17 points, scored the Gophers’ final points of the evenings when he made a lay-up with five seconds left. Penney sealed the game when he took his last trip to the charity stripe with two seconds left, making both shots to end the game.
Gopher head coach Dan Monson noted that no matter what defense his team threw at Penney, the Gophers were unable to contain him once he got into his groove.
“We had no answers for Penney — zone or man,” Monson said. “He just kept them in the game, kept them in it and then went and won it for them.”
Penney found his groove with 15:38 remaining in the game. After going scoreless for over 22 minutes, he went on a 14-point run in a seven-minute span, including four three-pointers. Penney shot 6-9 from behind the arc for the afternoon.
Wilkinson was just one of many guys to feed Penney when he had an open look and said that the team knew Penney was on a roll and would be the one to put the Badgers up.
“We were running the offense, and [Penney] started finding holes in the offense,” said Wilkinson, who tallied six points. “We started looking for him ,and once he got going he started cutting harder and he started getting open so we found him. Sure enough, he put the ball in the basket.”
Penney took notice of the extra dishes as the game went on.
“When you hit a few, you want to keep trying to help the team and trying to make the shots,” Penney said. “The guys did a great job of getting me open.”
The Gophers, on the other hand, very nearly won it in part due to their run late in the first half, which put them up 34-29 heading into the locker room.
The Gophers shook off a slow start after converting on only one attempt from the field in their first eight trips down the court that saw them turning the ball over three times. UM was able to chip away at a 10-point Wisconsin lead to close the half out on a 19-4 run.
“Maybe we should have stayed in the zone,” said Monson. “We started in the man and they lit us up. We ended in a man, and they lit us.”
Monson also attributed the comeback to the notion that maybe his team became too careful with the lead and didn’t make the drives needed to increase its lead. The Gophers were apt to take an outside shot at times during the second half rather than wait for an opening in the lane and try for two.
“Late in the game, I think we got too cautious with the lead and just hoped to win instead of going out and taking the game,” said Monson. “I have to give Wisconsin the credit; they were relentless and came from behind. They just kept digging and digging and wouldn’t go away.”
The victory improves the Badgers chances of making the NCAA tournament in March and possibly a conference title. The Gophers took a step back in their quest and now have a lot of ground to make up in the final four games of the season. UW will come home this week to close out its regular season at the Kohl Center.
With two games left on the slate, Wisconsin knows that only it can control their outcome.
“We believe we can play with anybody, and we’ve proved it in the last few games,” commented Wilkinson. “Now we just need to wait and see what other people do. We pretty much control our own destiny with how we finish the year. We have to go out and get Iowa on Tuesday, and we believe if we take care of ourselves and if it’s meant to be, then it’ll be.”
