The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team has not trailed in 136 minutes and eight seconds — a streak dating back to Nov. 22’s matchup with Southern Methodist University — after going the full 40 minutes of Tuesday’s 70-57 road win against Michigan State University without falling behind to snare their sixth straight win.
Wisconsin turned in another impressive rebounding performance, outrebounding MSU 36-22, including an 11-5 advantage on the offensive glass. The Badgers also notched a season high in 3-pointers made (10) on 43.5% shooting from deep after entering the tilt a combined 18-for-66 (27%) over their last three games and shot a perfect 14-for-14 from the charity stripe.
UW was red-hot to open Tuesday’s match, burying a 3FG in three of their first four possessions to claim a 9-2 advantage. But, both offenses went cold, going a combined 0-for-7 from the field over the next three minutes until Jeremy Fears Jr. and-one layup broke the stalemate.
Sophomore guard for MSU, Tre Holloman, followed up Fears with a 3-pointer to slim the Badgers lead to five heading into the under 12-minute media timeout. Coming out of the break, sophomore AJ Storr took over, scoring on three consecutive possessions to lead a 7-0 run by himself and push the UW advantage to double-digits.
The Badger lead was never in danger following Storr’s outburst, and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Storr resulted in UW taking a commanding 34-23 advantage into the locker room.
While the St. John’s transfer stole the show with 12 points and multiple highlight plays, the two-man game between juniors Chucky Hepburn and Steven Crowl proved to be Wisconsin’s offensive engine in the period. The pair combined for 16 points and eight assists with only one turnover and either scored or assisted on 11 of the Badgers’ 13 first-half baskets.
After missing the final 13:31 of the first half due to foul trouble, forward Tyler Wahl was forced to leave the floor once again early in the second half after sustaining a bloody nose. The incident occurred as Wahl contested senior AJ Hoggard’s layup on the Badgers first defensive possession. But, he returned at the 17-minute mark and was unbothered by the injury.
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Entering the second half with just four points on 2-of-8 shooting, All-Conference guard Tyson Walker was determined to get the Spartans back on track. He led MSU on a 19-9 run, including nine points of his own, as Michigan State buried 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions and cut the difference to 49-46 with 12:55 left.
Facing a similar second-half surge to that of the Marquette game, Wisconsin was able to punch back once again, securing a 9-0 run that was propelled by seven AJ Storr points to restore a double-digit advantage with five minutes to play.
While UW led by 13 with 90 seconds to go, Badger fans were forced to hold their breath down the stretch. After a pair of turnovers and a blocked dunk attempt, MSU managed to crawl back to within nine and forced UW coach Greg Gard to burn a timeout to avoid a five-second violation on the inbounds pass with 50 seconds left.
The timeout proved worthwhile. The Badgers came out of the break, got the ball inbounds to junior Max Klesmit, who was immediately fouled, and made a pair of game-clinching free throws.
With the 70-57 win, UW picked up their third straight win at the Breslin Center — a feat they hadn’t accomplished since the 1960’s — and advanced to 1-0 in Big Ten play.
AJ Storr paced Wisconsin in points with 22 on 8-of-11 shooting (4-6 from three), while Steven Crowl doled out 18 points (6-12 FG, 4-4 3PT), six rebounds and five assists. This was his first game of 2023 with multiple makes from beyond the arc.
Other standout performers for the Badgers included freshman John Blackwell, who scored 10 points off the bench, and Chucky Hepburn, who registered an eight-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. For Sparty, Tyson Walker rode an 18-point second half to a team-leading 22 points, while AJ Hoggard contributed 14 points and seven assists.
Riding the high of a six-game win streak and several impressive victories, Greg Gard’s squad will face their toughest test of the season. Wisconsin travels to Tucson to take on undefeated Arizona, who sits at No. 1 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll.
