For a guy who could only muster two points against Illinois on Jan. 24, Jason Bohannon had a pretty big night.

“Last time we played Illinois we got open shots,” Bohannon said. “It wasn’t that we weren’t getting shots. We just weren’t hitting them. Me and Jon (Leuer) both struggled against Illinois last time, and tonight we just tried to capitalize on the open shots we were getting.”

Bohannon ended up finishing with a team-high 20 points, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range and 6-for-9 overall from the field. He had 15 of his 20 points in the first half, including going 5-for-5 from downtown.

“We thought sooner or later Bohannon would get going,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. “We hoped it wouldn’t be against us. They put a new play in — a squeeze that Iowa runs — and he hit the first one. Then we lost him a couple times.”

After hitting his first three just 4:20 into the first half, Bohannon went on to hit his next four, which helped both him and his teammates gain momentum.

“The fact that that was his first one, did that get him going? I don’t know,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “But he still has to stare down the others. But Jason is one of those guys who can do that.”

In the second half, the Illini were able to limit Bohannon to just five points, but his confidence was high enough that he attempted a dunk with 16:13 left to go in the game with the Badgers leading 44-29.

“Well, I would have told him he can’t jump anyways,” Wisconsin forward Marcus Landry said. “I guess he thought he was flying high today, so he tried to go up and dunk it. He could have had 22.”

Other than Bohannon’s hot hand, both Landry and forward Jon Leuer had big games. In the first half, the three accounted for 35 of the Badgers’ 37 points. Overall, Landry finished with 16 points and six rebounds, all of which came in the first half. Leuer finished with 15 points and six boards as well.

The win against the Fighting Illini was not only a complete turnaround for Bohannon, but for Leuer, too. Against Illinois, the sophomore could only manage two points and three rebounds compared to the stellar night he had at home.

Bohannon’s excellent game from the perimeter was able to open up the inside for Leuer and Landry. The Badgers scored 24 points in the paint and had 13 second-chance points.

“Obviously, when you have a shooter like Jason on the outside, it is going to free us up on the inside because they have to close down on him harder,” Leuer said. “You could just feel the energy anytime he gets an open shot. The whole building kind of stands up, and we look to J-Bo to knock those shots down.”

While Bohannon, Leuer and Marcus put up big numbers, Wisconsin guard Trevon Hughes had a solid night defensively. He had three assists, four steals and only one turnover while holding Illinois guard Demetri McCamey to just 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

“He played a good game defensively against McCamey, his ball pressure and ball handling [were also good],” Ryan said. “His last turnover was a tough situation his teammate put him in with a pass and it ended up being a jump ball.”

Other than getting a big night out of Bohannon, Leuer and Landry, the Badgers were able to end a six-game losing streak. Before last night’s win, Wisconsin was winless since Jan. 7 when they defeated Northwestern at home.

“They took it too us, and played well and played like a team who was desperate to get a win,” Weber said.