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It must seem like the opponent is playing defense with six people for the Minnesota Golden Gophers when they play Wisconsin.

The first time the two teams met, Wisconsin held the high-scoring Minnesota to a season-low 47 points in a 63-47 win for the Badgers.

On Saturday, it was much the same story, as the 14th-ranked Badgers frustrated the Golden Gophers into shooting just 33.3 percent from the field as UW won again, 65-56.

For Minnesota, which entered the game ranked second in the Big Ten in scoring with just over 68 points per game in conference play, the 56 points was its second-lowest scoring output of the season.

“They do a good job of guarding the basket; they don’t give up many easy baskets in transition,” Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith said following the game.

“You’ve got to be patient. That’s the key. They’re not going to gamble, and usually you’re going to be taking a shot at the end of the shot clock.”

When Minnesota was patient enough to work the ball inside to its post players, the Golden Gophers found it tough to convert, stymied by their own missed layups and the Badgers’ tough interior defense.

“You have to score over them,” Smith said. “They’ve got good, long defensive people inside and good physical inside; [they] play great position defense.”

Wisconsin dominated points in the paint, outscoring Minnesota by a 22-12 margin.

“We made sure to chest up and not foul them and make sure that they made some difficult shots,” Wisconsin forward Brian Butch said. “Anytime you do that ? it’s tough to make baskets.”

One of the most effective defenses for the Badgers was their own offense. For the second straight game, UW was able to hold on to the ball and limit its turnovers (10). Against a team like Minnesota, which likes to get easy baskets in transition off of steals and opponents’ turnovers, that ball control can be just as important as anything defensively.

“You have to get back, you?ve got to not let people get to the rim or get wide-open threes,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said.

For as poorly as they shot overall, the Golden Gophers were able to find some open looks from 3-point range in transition.

Minnesota burned Wisconsin with three fast-break 3-pointers in the second half, including two by guard Lawrence McKenzie ? the second of which tied the game at 45 with just under nine minutes left in the game.

That look for McKenzie came off a missed free throw by Joe Krabbenhoft. With the Badgers aggressively going for an offensive rebound, McKenzie’s defender was late to get back on defense and no one helped out defensively.

“That’s one of the few in transition that we give up,” Ryan said. “We don’t give up very many, but he was wide open.”

Hughes returns to form

After three consecutive games in which his scoring output was considerably below average, point guard Trevon Hughes hinted at a return to form with his 11-point, six-rebound, two-steal outing against Minnesota.

Having scored just 16 points in the previous three games combined, it was Hughes’ decision-making that made the difference Saturday.

“He was more consistent because his decision making was more rational and calculated,” Ryan said.

And while Hughes failed to record an assist during Saturday’s win, he also kept the ball safe. Hughes did not turn the ball over at all in 34 minutes, marking the first time he has done so this season.

“A guy like Trevon isn’t going to get a lot of assists in a game where we go to the free-throw line 33 times,” Ryan said.