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Unlike their past two matches, the Badgers didn’t take much time to take control of a game. After squeaking by Long Beach State in its regular season debut, the No. 25 Wisconsin men’s basketball team (2-0) routed the Cougars of SIU-Edwardsville 88-58 at the Kohl Center last night.

Jon Leuer and Marcus Landry led the way offensively for the Badgers, scoring 19 and 15 points, respectively. Juniors Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes also contributed with 14 and 11 points, respectively, shooting a combined 5-for-8 from 3-point range.

After building its lead, the Badgers never looked back. Wisconsin continued to add on to its advantage, which at one point reached 39 points in the second half.

Landry, who also recorded five blocks on the defensive end, saw a major improvement in the team’s defensive effort following the close game against Long Beach.

“I think we played really well,” he said. “There are a lot of things that we did well defensively. I think we did a lot of good things defensively as a team, and there are a lot of things we can do better.”

Following the game, Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan commented on the strong play his team exhibited throughout the match.

“Once it kind of got away from them a little bit, we were just trying to run our stuff,” Ryan said. “I like the fact that we moved the ball, made our cuts, touched the post, and we didn’t get screwy with our decision making.”

The Badgers dominated all aspects of the game. They outscored the Cougars 46-16 in the paint, shot 59.3 percent as a team, and forced 18 SIU-Edwardsville turnovers. Ryan recognized his team’s ability to build on the Cougars’ mistakes and take control of the opportunities presented before it.

“You pick your poison. Some teams want to rely on a lot of 3-point shots and some teams want to get a mixture of both,” Ryan said. “I’ve always tried to be an opportunistic coach. In all my teachings, you take what you can get but have the ability to take advantage of whatever it is that you get. Tonight we took advantage of what we had.”

On top of playing four road games over the past five days, SIU-Edwardsville’s top scorer and rebounder last season, Mark Yelovich, missed the game due to a family emergency.

“I just thought legs-wise we were dead,” SIU-Edwardsville head coach Lennox Forrester said. “And that’s taking credit away from the Badgers because I think they’re a very good team.

“We miss [Yelovich] a lot,” he continued. “He’s a playmaker also at his size and his position, so we definitely miss him.”

The defense also played a major role in Wisconsin’s victory. The Badgers gave up only 21 points in the first half to build a 19-point lead going into the second period.

“I think because they’re so physical and disciplined, they screen hard and do everything great; they took us away from getting into the lane a lot,” Forrester said. “Even when we did get into the lane, we were just getting our shots blocked.”

Going into the Paradise Jam Tournament on Friday in the Virgin Islands, the Badgers will be facing Iona before a possible match with San Diego, and perhaps even Connecticut if all goes the Badgers’ way. Following the near scare against Long Beach State, Landry feels the big win over the Cougars is the perfect way to enter the tournament this coming weekend.

“A win is a win. If we only win by one point, it’s still a good way to go into a tournament,” Landry said. “Hopefully guys are confident and feel good about themselves. …Winning is always a positive, and I think it will most definitely help us going into this tournament.”