[media-credit name=’YANA PASKOVA/Herald Photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]If you can't beat them, join them. And then beat them.

After losing their past two games due to ghastly shooting performances and weakened defensive performances, Wisconsin turned the tables on their opponent Wednesday night, forcing Penn State into a horrendous shooting night with some lockdown defense.

The Badgers also found their shooting touch again — at least for one half — Wednesday night, just in time to avoid the team's first three-game losing skid since November of the 2001-2002 season.

Wisconsin hit eight first-half 3-pointers (and 13 overall, tying a Kohl Center record) against the Penn State zone defense. The Badgers shot 50 percent in the first half to build a lead that they were easily able to maintain and even build upon in the second half, where they only shot 34 percent from the field.

"I think we had a big enough lead that we could miss shots like that," sophomore Kammron Taylor said. "We were still getting good looks, shots were just going in and out of the basket."

"At the end of the day, they only shot 39 percent and we still got beat by 30, so I think we didn't play very well at all," said Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis.

The Badger defense played a large role in the Nittany Lion struggles, however, as they prevented Penn State from finding open shots. On several occasions, the boys from Happy Valley had to scramble to force up a tough attempt as the shot clock was expiring, as sure a sign of tight defense as any.

"Maybe their defense was so great that it just pushed us out of everything," DeChellis said.

DeChellis believes that in the end, though, it was the Badgers' balanced attack that did his team in, as UW was able to control the tempo on both ends of the floor.

"They were forcing things on both ends of the floor. I thought they did a good job of that, forcing action on both ends of the floor," DeChellis said. "Defensively, [they made] us play away a little further away from the basket than we want. Offensively, I thought they were very comfortable tonight and did a good job attacking our zone."

Butch scare: Those in attendance at the Kohl Center received a little scare in the first half, when sophomore forward Brian Butch appeared to have aggravated his left ankle injury. With 15:08 left in the first half, Butch passed the ball off, and then crumpled to the floor, grasping at his injured ankle with his face contorted in pain.

The injury appeared to be minor, however, as Butch returned to the game less than two minutes later.

"He's got what we used to call the Chester shuffle, I think at times," UW head coach Bo Ryan joked about Butch's natural loping walk, but added that he didn't notice any other injury to Butch. "I didn't see him limping. He might've been, but I didn't see it."

Mask free: Junior forward Alando Tucker was able to take the floor "facial-protector-free" for the first time since the second half of the Nov. 29 game against Wake Forest.

"I didn't need any windshield wipers this game," Tucker joked.

Wisconsin's leading scorer made a point to comment on how comfortable he was having his face exposed, saying he's not losing any sleep as to whether or not he could get re-injured.

"At no point during the game did I actually worry about being hit in the face," Tucker said. "You just have to look past it."

Tucker also said that his getting clearance from the medical staff to play without the mask couldn't have come a moment too soon.

"I was ready for this point a couple games ago, to get the mask off," Tucker said.

Seven-Eleven: Wisconsin dressed only eleven players for the third straight game Wednesday, and despite speculation that the Badgers would have to begin digging deeper into their bench, Ryan opted to stick with a seven-man rotation.

Freshman walk-on Kevin Gullikson was the first player not in the regular rotation to make an appearance, but it was not until 12:43 remained in the game.

Only in the final minutes of the game, with Wisconsin holding a 30-point advantage, did Ryan empty the bench.

Freshman walk-on Devin Barry scored his first career point, making a free throw with 1:33 remaining in the game. Sophomore Tanner Bronson also recorded his first point of the season with a free throw in the final minute.