[media-credit name=’Ben Smidt’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Wisconsin closed out its exhibition schedule Tuesday with a 78-44 win over Division III squad UW-Platteville, the program that head coach Bo Ryan led for 15 seasons. The event treated the 17,142 in attendance to the first-ever match-up between the two schools.

“A lot of the people that were in the facility tonight, in the Kohl Center, were basketball people that wanted to see this, that wanted to see players from the state, that wanted to see the state university conference in action in a big arena,” Ryan said.

The Pioneers jumped out to an early 6-4 lead on a three-pointer from guard Brad Reitzner and extended the lead to 7-4 after a Brandon Temperly free throw. But the lead would not last long.

The Badgers tied the game with a three from guard Sharif Chambliss, sparking a 21-3 run that gave Wisconsin a commanding 28-10 lead. It was all Badgers the rest of the way.

“The way we started off, I thought it showed that as a Division III team, that we can play in spurts with a Division I team,” Reitzner said. “But I think as time went on you kind of found the difference between the different levels. We’re a good basketball team and we can maybe play with the Badgers for about four or five minutes.”

After Clayton Hanson knocked down a three to put Wisconsin ahead 32-12, the diminutive Tanner Bronson checked into the game with more than five minutes to play in the first half, signaling that the game was already out of hand.

Platteville cut the lead to 35-18 with an 8-3 run, but the Badgers closed out the half with some fireworks, as point guard Kammron Taylor tossed an alley-oop to high-flying forward Alando Tucker, who brought the house down with a one-handed jam.

Not to be outdone, Platteville came right back the other way with a dunk of their own, courtesy of forward Jeff Skemp, and the first half came to an end with the Badgers leading 38-22.

Skemp came out firing in the second half, scoring his team’s first six points. Less than three minutes into the second stanza, the 6-foot-10 freshman had already compiled 14 points on the night.

However, Skemp’s scoring tear did not cut into the Badger lead, as Wisconsin answered with baskets from forwards Andreas Helmigk, Tucker and Zach Morley.

Morley added to the Badger lead by scoring four points on one trip down the floor. The 6-foot-8 senior scored and drew a foul, earning an opportunity for a three-point play. He missed the ensuing free throw, but grabbed his own rebound and scored on a put-back to give the Badgers a 46-28 advantage.

Morley’s effort sparked an 18-0 Badger run that extended the Wisconsin lead to 62-28. Bronson re-entered the game during the run and immediately made his presence felt in a big way. The diminutive guard picked up an assist on a pass to Clayton Hanson, who scored on a short runner. On the next trip down the floor, Bronson pulled down a rebound and started a break that led to a transition basket for Tucker.

Tucker also rattled off the last four points of the Badger run, scoring on a put-back after a miss from Hanson and adding another lay-up in transition after a steal from Mike Wilkinson.

It was Skemp who finally stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws at the 8:04 mark to cut the lead to 62-30. No Platteville player other than Skemp scored in the second half until the 6:05 mark, when Reitzner connected on a jumper to bring the score to 69-32. Skemp, who scored his team’s first eight points in the second stanza after tallying the Pioneer’s last four points of the first half, finished with a game-high 16 points on 7-11 shooting while battling foul trouble for much of the second half.

“Skemp was marvelous tonight,” Platteville head coach Paul Combs said. “Boy, he has a bright future … Jeff’s going to be as good as he wants to be. With that type of mentality, that type of attitude, the sky is the limit for him.”

Skemp’s free throws did not hold off the Badgers for long, as Wisconsin rattled off a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 39 points, Wisconsin’s largest lead of the night.

The Pioneers closed the gap to 34 with 5:16 to play, but that was as close as they would come.

Wisconsin took advantage of Platteville’s 23 miscues, posting a 29-5 edge in points off turnovers. The Badgers also dominated in the post, recording a 40-18 advantage in points in the paint. Though the Pioneers turned in an impassioned performance in their first-ever showdown with a Division I program, the Badgers were simply too much for Platteville to handle.

“My hat’s off to Wisconsin,” Combs said. “It’s remarkable how they can play so sound fundamentally and be so efficient on both ends of the floor.”