[media-credit name=’GREG SCHMITZ/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan's 500th career victory in Saturday's 77-63 win over Auburn was nothing special for him.
"It's just the next game," Ryan said of his milestone.
"You know Coach Ryan, he doesn't talk about his accolades," UW senior guard Kammron Taylor added. "I'm pretty sure nobody on the team even knew that, but it's a good thing to be a part of history and he deserves it."
The No. 7 Badgers (5-1) jumped out to an early lead over the Auburn Tigers (4-2), looking to bounce back from Friday's disappointing loss to the Missouri State Bears.
"A lot of guys weren't prepared for what Missouri State was going to do," UW senior forward Alando Tucker said. "We adjusted in the second half [Friday], but it was a little too late so we knew what we had to do [Saturday] against Auburn."
Wisconsin jumped out to a 10-0 lead until Auburn's DeWayne Reed broke the Tigers' silence with a breakaway dunk off of a Marcus Landry turnover, the first of many first-half Badger blunders.
The Badgers turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, allowing the Tigers to stick around, but the second-half was a different story.
Wisconsin only committed one second-half turnover and put Auburn away.
Tucker took over after halftime once again, scoring 11 second-half points, including a breakaway reverse dunk to seal the deal.
But the Badgers didn't just waltz away with an easy win. Auburn made it a tough and physical game with foul after foul, as just about every Tiger in AU head coach Jeff Lebo's seven-man rotation was in foul trouble.
Auburn's starting forward Korvotney Barber fouled out with just 11:08 remaining in the second half and starting guard Frank Tolbert also fouled out later.
"It's tough when a team like that is going to pressure you that hard for 40 minutes," Tucker said. "But that's where we have to stay strong ourselves and just counter that with getting to the line and things that we did."
With plenty of bonus free throws available, Wisconsin was aggressive in going to the basket.
"Coach Ryan was telling us [Auburn's] guards and players like to get out and pressure the ball," Taylor said. "The only way to beat that is to attack it.
"As a team, I think we made real good decisions with the ball."
Wisconsin's Joe Krabbenhoft was also aggressive in his own right.
Krabbenhoft came off the bench to give the Badgers a spark at crucial points in the game and took part in the Tigers' beating, hauling in eight rebounds, four of which were on the offensive end.
Krabbenhoft also chipped in eight points.
"He's a tough kid," Tucker said of Krabbenhoft. "It's hard to find a guy like Joe. He's Mr. Intangible. He does everything for us, all the dirty work, things that might not even show on the stat sheet."
"He just did everything — rebounding, defense, he's everywhere," Ryan added.
Wisconsin suffers first loss
UW suffered its first loss of the season Friday to Missouri State, losing a heartbreaker 66-64.
Missouri State jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game behind two Blake Ahearn three-pointers, and Wisconsin looked lost on both sides of the ball.
"We didn't show up early," Tucker said. "They were on fire.
"We didn't make good decisions," he added. "We took some bad shots, got a couple turnovers and that wasn't the type of basketball we are capable of doing."
Wisconsin cut a 17-point lead to 13 in the winding seconds of the first half with a Kevin Gullikson bucket, and then Michael Flowers stole an in-bounds pass and made a reverse lay-up before the buzzer.
Down 32-45, Tucker took it upon himself to put the Badgers back in the game in the second half, scoring 17 points after halftime.
With just under 11 minutes remaining in the game, Tucker hit a three-pointer to pull within two points at 49-51 and then scored six straight UW points to tie the game up at 55-55.
On the next two possessions, Tucker found Krabbenhoft for two buckets, one of which was goaltended by MSU's Dale Lambert.
"I was finding guys," Tucker said. "[Missouri State] was making sure they knew where I was, but that's where we have to have other guys step up."
After dishing it off to Krabbenhoft, Tucker muscled in an and-one play to give Wisconsin its biggest lead at 5 points with 5:24 remaining.
After going back and forth for the rest of the game, Wisconsin found itself down 64-66 with the ball and 15 seconds remaining.
Taylor brought the ball down the court and passed it off to Tucker after a pick-and-roll on the high wing. Tucker dribbled to the corner, stepped back and launched a three-pointer for the potential win.
However, the ball went in-and-out at the buzzer.
"These kind of games are good to have at this time of the year because they come down to the last possession," Ryan said. "You've got to find the playmaker, and Tuck's made those plays for us before."
With 15 points and four assists Saturday and 26 points and six rebounds Friday, Tucker earned All-Tournament team honors for the South Padre Island Invitational. Oklahoma State defeated Missouri State 73-70 in overtime of the championship game, and Cowboys forward/center Mario Boggan was named the Invitational's Most Valuable Player.