Entering the season looking for leaders on the offensive end
after losing nearly 50 percent of the scoring from last year's roster, the
Wisconsin basketball team may have found just that Sunday night in the
season-opening game against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne.

Forward Brian Butch filled the scoresheet individually for
the Badgers, registering a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds en
route to an 83-55 victory against the overmatched Mastodons.

"He's a senior, he's a leader, he has to be the catalyst for
… those young guys," IPFW head coach Dane Fife said.

After misfiring on a 3-point attempt for his first shot of
the game, Butch went inside and did so very effectively.

The 6-foot-11 Butch used his size to his advantage, working
over and wearing down the Mastodons' undersized front line for 20 points in the
paint.

"That's something we just have to concentrate on is we need
to score in the paint," Butch said. "When it gets tough … you got to go where
you know you can score, and it's easier to score closer to the basket than far
away from the basket."

Aiding Butch's efforts inside was the fact that he had two
inches of height on the tallest person guarding him. With only four players at
6-foot-8 or taller, the Mastodons' big men wore down as the game went on.

"We couldn't get (forward) DeWitt Scott out of the game. We
couldn't get (forward) Jaraun Burrows out of the game," Fife said. "Those guys
have to get a blow for at least three or four minutes a half if we're going to
have them 100 percent effective.

Butch connected on only two of his first six shots, but as
the game wore on, he seemed to get more comfortable.

"Sometimes you're thinking about it's your first game of
your senior season, and you get a little tentative, and you forget the things
you worked on," UW head coach Bo Ryan said, offering up a possible explanation
for the early struggles offensively of his big man.

Butch ended up kicking that cold start, finding his groove
offensively, and finished shooting 10-17 from the field.

"He wasn't finishing around the basket, but all that you can
see right out in front of you on stats," Ryan said. "Once he got into the game
… he got scratched and bruised and cut a little bit around the basket … he was
battling, and he finally got some calls, got some buckets to go and was a
different player out there."

While he ended with 13 rebounds, four of Butch's boards came
off of his own misses.

"Somebody from the outside looking in might say that if he
made his bunnies, if he made his layups and power moves, he may not have had 13
rebounds," Ryan said. "He was a little off, but he stayed after it."

Butch wasn't the only Badger with a banner day in the
opener.

Scoreless until 6:42 left in the first half, point guard Trevon
Hughes keyed an 18-3 run over the final five minutes that put the Badgers in
control of the game for good.

For the game, Hughes finished with five assists against just
two turnovers. Despite that 5-2 ratio, Hughes was less than impressed with
himself following the game.

"I think that's terrible as a point guard," Hughes said. "Bo
Ryan was explaining that to me, that he wants me on the court, and I can't turn
the ball over.

"Two times, I'm surprised I didn't come out. … I guess he
stuck with me and we pulled this one through."

Hughes shone on the defensive end as well, harassing IPFW's
guards and nabbing a game-high six steals in the contest.

And while Butch and Hughes combined to score 49 of the
Badgers 83 points for the game, Hughes acknowledged afterward that top-heavy
scoring distribution very well could evolve and change as the season continues.

"It
just happened that way. Like we said, we have six or seven guys that could do
that, and I guess tonight was me and Brian's night, and we just kept feeding
off each other," Hughes said.