The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team needed the full 40 minutes to pull out their sixth straight Border Battle victory, as the game-tying field goal shot by Golden Gophers’ Mike Mitchell Jr. in the final seconds clanged off the front rim and into the hands of Minnesota native Tyler Wahl. Tuesday’s contest marked another Big Ten road challenge — as the conference enters Wednesday with a combined record of 15-40 on the road.
Free throw shooting — which was a clear setback of last season’s group — capped off UW head coach Greg Gard’s 100th conference win, as Wahl and guard AJ Storr each knocked down both ends of one-and-ones in the closing 30 seconds to seal the 61-59 win.
The victory pushed No. 13 ranked UW to 15-4 on the year and retained their place atop the Big Ten. Wahl paced the Badgers in points with 16 and rejected three shots, while Storr collected his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Minnesota was led by point guard Elijah Hawkins — who entered the game leading Division 1 in assists per game — with a season-high 16 points to pair with nine assists.
UW was without backup point guard Kamari McGee for the contest, who suffered what appeared to be a lower-body injury during Friday’s home win over Indiana. In his stead, Gard made significant changes to the first-half rotation, with junior Isaac Lindsey being the first guard off the bench. Before Tuesday’s tilt, Lindsey hadn’t taken the floor in the first half since Nov. 14 during the Badgers match against Providence.
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After surrendering 52 points in the second half against the Hoosiers, UW made a statement on the defensive end Tuesday, holding the Golden Gophers to just 24 first-half points — their second fewest in any half this season — on 9-for-29 shooting from the field. They held Minnesota’s key offensive pieces in Hawkins and forward Dawson Garcia to a combined six points and on the offensive end shot 13-for-26 from the field to claim a 10-point advantage heading into halftime.
Despite this cushion, the advantage was quickly erased by an opening 10-2 run by Minnesota. After going ice cold in the first half, the Golden Gophers knocked down each of their first six 3-point attempts in the second half while Hawkins either scored or assisted on 14 of the team’s first 16 points.
From there it was neck and neck, but free-throw shooting decided the game. In the final 90 seconds, Minnesota went 2-for-5 from the charity stripe while Wisconsin went a perfect 4-for-4 and pulled out the two-point stunner victory.
The Badgers will travel back to Madison for a rematch with Michigan State Friday after defeating the Spartans on the road 70-57 in East Lansing Dec. 5.
