It may have been Super Bowl Sunday, but for two hours of the afternoon, the No. 18/19 Wisconsin Badgers (17-5, 7-3) made a legitimate attempt to steal the attention of their state.

Thanks to a lights-out shooting effort and a nearly flawless performance from point guard Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin routed Michigan State (13-10, 5-6) 82-56 Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center. The Badgers shot 59 percent from the floor, 64.7 percent from behind the arc and made 25-of-26 free throw shots (96.2 percent).

Wisconsin’s leading scorer, forward Jon Leuer, contributed 20 points and six rebounds, but Taylor remained the star. The junior from Bloomington, Minn., scored a career-high 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point range, 9-of-10 from the free throw line) and contributed six assists with just one turnover.

“I just really think you need to give Wisconsin the credit on their shooting today,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “If they shoot like that, they’ll win the national championship. I really mean that, I thought they were that impressive shooting the ball.”

From the start, Wisconsin’s offense was rolling. The Badgers began the game on an 8-2 run thanks to two three-pointers from forward Keaton Nankivil. Nankivil took and made three shots all game – all three were behind the arc, and all three came in the first half. He is now 10-for-17 from three-point range in his last four games.

At the 13:07 mark, Michigan State was able to close their deficit to 10-9, but that was the closest they came all game. After a three-pointer from guard Tim Jarmusz, Wisconsin finished the half on a 30-16 run.

“A couple of [our shots], let’s be honest, I don’t know if you want to rely on a couple of those shots that we made, all the time,” Ryan said. “But you take those away, and we were still pretty efficient offensively.”

Indeed, Wisconsin continued its stellar offensive efficiency. The Badgers entered Sunday averaging the nation’s fewest turnovers with just 7.8 per game, and they turned it over just eight times against the Spartans. Perhaps most impressively, only one turnover came in the first half.

Aside from his scoring and shooting numbers, Taylor also continued his outstanding knack for running the offense. The Badgers finished with 10 assists on the day, and Taylor contributed six. He also turned the ball over just once, improving on his nation’s best 3.8 assist-turnover ratio.

“They’re a pretty good defensive team; we all knew that it was going to be a tough game, and we were going to have to work them on offense a little bit when the shot clock gets down,” Taylor said. “It makes it easier when you got guys like Keaton and Jon, Tim and Josh [Gasser] who are making shots today, who can spread out the defense. You’ve just got to try to make a play. I’ve got confidence in my teammates, and I think they’ve got confidence in me.”

In the second half, Wisconsin’s dominance continued despite some slightly sloppy play (seven turnovers). Yet, after MSU’s Kalin Lucas nailed a jumper with 19:17 remaining to bring the score to 45-27, the Badgers’ lead never fell below 18. Lucas led the Spartans with 20 points, and Draymond Green contributed 13. Michigan State managed to shoot 43.5 percent from the floor, but it made just 3-of-14 three-point attempts (21.4 percent). The questions, consequently, came on the defensive end, and they were pervaded all game long.

Unfortunately for Izzo and his squad, the answers weren’t easy to find.

“Our defense wasn’t great, but it just seemed like every [Badger] took his turn,” Izzo said. “That was one of the better shooting performances out of a team that I’ve seen, and they deserved to win.”