For the second game in a row, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team let it fly from behind the arc, and for the second game in a row, their touch from outside led them to victory.
The Badgers (15-9, 7-4 Big Ten) ended up hitting 11 threes against the 2-3 zone en route to a convincing 72-61 win over Nebraska (13-12, 5-7) Wednesday, giving the team their sixth consecutive victory as they continue to build momentum in hopes of earning a bid to the NCAA tournament.
Here’s a breakdown of Wednesday’s victory:
Wisconsin player of the game
Vitto Brown – 18 points (6-7 FG, 3-3 3Pt), five rebounds, two assists
The 18 points is a career-high from junior forward Brown as he continues to have a great stretch after struggling through most of January. Brown is showing more patience on the perimeter and waiting for his shots to come to him. He has now scored 30 points in his last two games, and continues to play a huge part in this surging Wisconsin team.
Nebraska player of the game
Glynn Watson Jr. – 16 points (6-14 FG, 2-4 3Pt)
On a night where Nebraska simply couldn’t get in any sort of rhythm in the final 20 minutes, Watson Jr. did all he could to keep the Cornhuskers in the game, scoring 10 of his 16 points in the second half, dominantly using his midrange game to remain productive.
By the numbers
0 – The number of points redshirt freshman Ethan Happ had in the first half and the number of field goals he made for the entire night. Happ finished with just two points in 17 minutes.
15.7 – The number of points Nebraska forward Shavon Shields is averaging this season. Shields was inactive Wednesday after suffering a concussion in the team’s last outing.
61 – The percentage of threes the Badgers made Wednesday night, making eight of their first 10 and finishing 11-of-18 from behind the arc.
24 – The number of threes Wisconsin has hit in their past two games.
11 – The number of games Nigel Hayes has played at least 38 minutes in, as he did Wednesday.
6:54 – The amount of time remaining in the first half when someone other than Hayes or Brown scored, as the two scored the team’s first 16 points and 22 of UW’s 30 first-half points.
6:17 – The timestamp in the second half when Happ scored his first point of the game on a free throw.
.5 – Number of games the Badgers are behind fourth-place Purdue in the Big Ten standings
Quotable
Nebraska head coach Tim Miles on Wisconsin’s three-point shooting:
“We go 5-for-16 on layups and they go 11-for-18 on threes, I think is what they ended up with. When you shoot threes better than the other team shoots layups, you’re going to win.”
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard on why they’ve had to shoot so many threes in the past two games:
“The word is out that we like to touch the post. We kept it a secret as long as we could, but now it’s out … Fortunately for our guys, we didn’t get too three happy, from the standpoint that we tried to touch the post as much as possible. I think the biggest thing was we didn’t convert. We didn’t finish.”
Hayes on Brown’s performance:
“It was about time because I was about ready to rough him up. I told him to meet me outside the locker room. But seriously, that’s what we expect. We know he can play like that. I told him at the beginning of the year that that’s what we expect from him. He knows he can play like that. He just has to keep playing with the confidence that he has.”
Hayes on the team’s slow start to the game:
“I blame it on the people talking to coach Gard [before the game]. They gave him negative energy, he transferred that to us and then we came out sluggish in the first half. So whoever he was talking to, it’s their fault.”
