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If anything should be taken away from the Minnesota game, it should be that the men’s basketball team has grown up. They have matured from the team that recorded a disappointing 66-65 loss to Michigan in its first Big Ten contest; a game in which the team watched a 10-point lead slip through its hands in the remaining minutes of the game, to a team that has put itself in position to win the Big Ten championship this season.

The Badgers are now an experienced team that can play with a lead and has the players that can come up big when called upon.

From first-team All-Big Ten selection Kirk Penney to freshman Alando Tucker, the Badger players have that veteran state of mind to play 40 minutes of complete basketball and keep their composure down the stretch.

However, after the game, sophomore point guard Devin Harris was quick to point out that they are all veterans now, and they should all be capable of winning big games like this; the team’s youth is no longer an issue. Proof of this can bee seen in Tucker’s play as of late.

“He (Tucker) is not a freshman anymore; he has been in enough games now that he is a sophomore,” Harris said.

Tucker added, “You can’t consider yourself a freshman anymore; you have to consider yourself just another player out there.”

Tucker finished the game tying Penney for high-scorer honors with 16 points along with 5 rebounds. More importantly, the freshman was 6-6 from the free-throw line in the last six minutes of the game. It was his effort at the charity stripe that allowed the Badgers to remain ahead down the stretch and keep some distance between themselves and the Gophers.

“I just wanted to clear my mind of the crowd, and I knew our team needed them (the free throws). I knew every free throw had to drop in order for us to come out of here with a win,” Tucker said.

In addition to Tucker, another Badger who demonstrated his maturity down the stretch, by hitting perhaps the biggest basket of the night, was junior guard Freddie Owens.

With only 22 seconds remaining, and UW up by 2 points, Owens went up for a 3-pointer.

That shot was blocked and didn’t come close to hitting the rim. He immediately had the presence of mind to chase down his miss and hit a jumper in the middle of the lane to put the team back up by 4 points and consequently clinch the victory.

“Freddie might have been fouled, but he didn’t get down or feel sorry for himself, he hustled to get it back, and we got the bucket, and that was huge; it is all part of growing with guys maturing and being opportunistic,” head coach Bo Ryan said.

These are examples of why UW will have the chance Wednesday to clinch a Big Ten championship outright. In big games, this team remains composed and is able to play solid basketball. Coach Ryan has his team playing smart basketball from the top to the bottom of his lineup.

Penney has Minnesota’s number: Another storyline of this game was the continued resilient play of Kirk Penney against the Golden Gophers. In the previous four times the senior has faced Minnesota, he has averaged 23.0 points per game and shot 14-29 from behind the arc.

Yesterday Penney, along with Tucker, led the Badgers in scoring with 16 points on an impressive 5-7 overall shooting performance. All seven of his shots came from behind the arch, as the Gophers played a good portion of the game in its zone defense.

“I think he (Penney) was a little more opportunistic,” Ryan said. “I think our guys used some good ball fakes to set him up. Kirk works hard away from the basketball as well as anybody I’ve seen. Now that he is going into the post and coming out again, he is even more effective working without the ball.”

While his teammates aren’t sure what gets into Penney when he faces the Gophers, Harris simply explained Penney’s performance as top notch.