Gasser Makes History as Badgers Roll In Evanston

Looking for their first road win in conference play, Wisconsin came to Evanston on a mission and came out with a dominant 78-46 victory.

Coming off of a tough home win over Indiana, UW came out firing against the Wildcats, shooting 62% from the field in the first half en route to a 45-26 halftime lead.

Despite holding senior forward Jon Leuer to just two first half points, Northwestern’s 1-3-1 allowed the Badgers to get open jumpers nearly every possession, jumpers that UW was able to knock down.

Though Leuer put up 17 second half points to lead the scoring with 19 for the game, the story was freshman guard Josh Gasser’s triple-double, the first in school history.

"I never once expected that would ever happen," Gasser said after the history-making performance. "So, for that to happen in a game that we won, it's that much better.”

Starting his 2nd straight game, Gasser got off to a hot start, knocking down an early three-point field goal and finishing the opening half with 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists.

As he has done all year, the freshman was a power on the boards, racking up 8 more rebounds in the second half to finish the game with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.

“That was a tremendous accomplishment,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “And as we said in the locker room it will have his name and then the University of Wisconsin next to it so it's great for the program.”

The game was tight early on as both teams traded buckets until a 9-0 Badger run midway through the opening half turned a 17-16 game into a double-digit UW lead.

From there, Northwestern (13-6, 3-5) quickly found themselves being blown out at home. Junior forward John Shurna, the Big Ten’s 3rd leading scorer, kept the Wildcats in it for a while, but faded as his 13 point performance turned out to not be nearly enough in a game that saw both teams unload their benches for the majority of the last ten minutes of play.

As the lead grew, the Wildcats found their size to be a serious disadvantage as UW dominated the glass en route to a 32-18 rebound advantage that seemed to make a home court comeback impossible.

Though Gasser’s triple-double was the headline, the Badger win was a team effort as 5 players finished the game in double-digits, with sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz adding a 10-point, 3 rebound boost in 24 minutes off the bench.

With the next five days off, the Badgers will have time to prepare for the final leg of a two game road trip scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Penn State. With the Nittany Lions having already knocked off Michigan State and Illinois in State College, this matchup will certainly be a test this Badger team needs to take seriously in order to get themselves back home unscathed.