[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]It may have taken six games and a first half, but things are finally starting to click for the Wisconsin men's basketball team.

The Badgers (6-1) have been trying to find a rhythm most of the season, and they may have finally found it after a tenacious first half of play against UW-Green Bay (2-4).

Wisconsin was able to find momentum during the last 10 minutes of play to overcome Green Bay 82-62 Wednesday at the Kohl Center.

Senior Ray Nixon started the night for the Badgers by hitting two consecutive 3-pointers. The Badgers would lead by as much as 10 twice in the half until UW-Green Bay's Ryan Evanochko scored six points toward the end of the half, bringing the score to 40-37 at half time. Evanochko tallied 15 points in the first 20 minutes and 22 for the game to lead all scorers.

"I just thought we were dead for a while," junior forward Alando Tucker said. "I told the guys at one point, 'If you give me the ball, I'm going to score for you.'"

UW-Green Bay started the second half on a 10-6 run to take the lead for the second time in the contest.

The Badgers responded with a 22-5 run to control the rest of the game. During that span, Tucker scored eight points for the Badgers, while junior guard Michael Flowers had four of his six steals.

"That was the story of the game," UW-Green Bay head coach Tom Kowalczyk said. "It has kind of been a pattern with our team this year. I felt during that run we had some good looks, but didn't make some shots. [Ryan] Tillema had some looks, [Evanochko] had some looks … during that run, we didn't convert. But, on the defensive end, when you're not making shots, you'd better make some stops. And that's when I thought Tucker's athleticism took over. I think it was mostly him, penetrating, posting up and we didn't do a good job guarding him during that stretch."

Added UW head coach Bo Ryan, "The way it started out in the second half, you thought it was going to be 98-90, one team or the other. Then things settled in a little bit and I thought once we just stuck with our rules and just kept battling each possession that overall we could get into them and get a stretch where we could get a lead, make them do some things a little differently and play off of that. That's the way it happened to work out. It was a good, hard-fought basketball game. That game will help us, I'll tell you that."

Tucker would lead the Badgers in points for the fourth time this season with 18. Not to be overshadowed, Flowers had a career-high 12 points.

"Michael is one of those guys who is always working on PHD — he is poor, hungry and driven — and I want guys to stay that way. I don't want him to change. I don't coach pretty boys," Ryan said.

With Flowers' guidance, Wisconsin's defense was once again able to tame UW-Green Bay's starting lineup.

Flowers guarded forward Tillema most of the night and held the freshman to zero points. Tillema went 0-for-8 on the night and appeared to be battling a thumb injury.

"[Tillema] hurt it in practice yesterday and we thought he would play, but we didn't know," Kowalczyk said. "He got some treatment at 7:30 this morning. He had a hard time catching. Most of the pain was from catching. I don't think it was from shooting. Despite going 0-for-8, he took some big steps forward. He battled defensively better than he has in a while and rebounded the ball very well. He started to become a more complete player."

Green Bay was able to stay in the contest due to a lackluster free-throw shooting performance from the Badgers.

Wisconsin went 18-for-29 on the night, shooting 62.1 percent from the charity stripe. Tucker hit only one-of-seven from the line, as his facemask appeared to hinder his effort.

"I'm just trying to imagine that [the mask] is not there," Tucker said. "I had to sleep in it a couple of times. It's one of those things where the more I keep it on, the more I'll get used to it."

Despite the second half, the youthful Phoenix put up a tough fight. The fourth-youngest college team in the country marched off the court with an extra bout of confidence, knowing they kept up with the Badgers for a solid 30 minutes.

"When you have a chance to play in-state games, when you have a chance to play against a Big Ten team in the Kohl Center, I would have to be very naíve to think that our players don't look at this as a special game," Kowalczyk said. "I know as a coach, you try to make every game a big game. But when you play against Wisconsin, I would have to be really naíve to think that the players don't look at it with a different attitude."