[media-credit name=’Stephanie Moebius/The Badger Herald’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]After enduring season-long questions regarding scoring
balance, the No. 18/19 Wisconsin Badgers (16-5, 6-3) rode the contributions of
some more unheralded players in their 66-59 victory over the No. 10/11 Purdue
Boilermakers (18-5, 7-3) Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.

The stars still carried Wisconsin – Jon Leuer contributed
his third double-double of the season and Jordan Taylor scored 15 points – but
it was role players like Josh Gasser and Ryan Evans who made sure the Badgers
came away with the win.

“We’ve been talking all year round about how we have guys
that people might not think twice about just because they might not be the big
names,” Taylor said. “Ryan has been saying what he can do for this team all
year long, and he showed it tonight.”

Gasser, the precocious freshman who recorded the first
triple-double in UW history Jan. 23 but scored just two points Jan. 29 at Penn
State, responded with 11 points and four rebounds Tuesday. Eight of Gasser’s
points came in the first half and he finished the game a perfect 4-4 from the
field, including 2-2 from three-point range.

Evans, meanwhile, finished with 10 points, one shy of his
career high. Yet his most significant contributions came on just two baskets,
an alley-oop from Taylor and a jumper from a step inside the free throw line
with 50 seconds remaining. The oop – which came at the 9:59 mark in the second
half after Purdue had sunk its first nine baskets after halftime – may have
been the turning point of the game, but the jumper put Wisconsin ahead for
good.

“My coaches and teammates [kept] continuing to believe in
me,” Evans said. “It’s been a rough year for me, but them continuing to believe
in me and I knew something had to get me going.”

In the Badgers’ first eight Big Ten games of the season,
Evans scored just six points – two in three different games. Yet, against
Purdue, Evans’ late jumper – which gave Wisconsin a 60-59 lead it would not
relinquish – sealed the game.

Furthermore, when the Boilermakers’ leading scorer, E’Twaun
drove hard to the hoop with 25 seconds remaining and Purdue down 63-59, Evans
was with him step-for-step and stuck his arm into force a jump ball. The
possession arrow pointed the Badgers’ way, and Wisconsin was able to exit with a
crucial victory that kept them near the top of the Big Ten.

“Well, overall, we were unhappy with the way we played Penn
State,” Leuer said. “We knew a hard-nosed team like Purdue, just like us, would
come in here and try to get on the glass and just beat us up physically. We
knew that coming in, and it was important for us to get on the glass and get
second-chance points. We’re so good at breaking teams down with our cuts, and
the more opportunities we get, the better. We definitely wanted to get on the
glass, and keep JaJuan [Jackson] and [D.J.] Byrd and all those guys off the
glass. They go hard and we did a good job tonight.”