Badgers Continue To Roll With Win Over Wildcats

By: Josh Schur
MADISON, Wis- While the Badgers have struggled shooting the ball at home in the past couple games, they certainly turned things around Wednesday night. Wisconsin (4-3 Big Ten, 15-5 overall) shot 52% from beyond the arc, knocking down 12 three-pointers en route to a 77-57 win over Northwestern (2-4 Big Ten, 12-6 overall).

UW started off the game with three straight triples, getting off to a quick 9-2 lead just minutes into the game. Junior forwards Jared Berggren and Mike Bruesewitz and sophomore guard Josh Gasser each connected from deep to get the Badgers off to a quick start.

“We knew they could shoot the ball,” Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said after the game. “I think we were confident, but they came out and shot well, and were able to knock down all those open shots.”

Northwestern didn’t back down though, as they fought right back with a 14-2 run of their own to lead by 5 early in the first half. John Shurna got off to a hot start early, hitting his first four shots, and finishing with a game-high 19.

Both teams seemed to go back and forth the first half, and while Shurna carried Northwestern, Bruesewitz did the same for Wisconsin. The Minnesota native had 12 first half points, including two three-pointers to keep the Badgers within striking distance as Northwestern continued to score at will.

“Mike kept us in the game without a doubt,” junior forward Ryan Evans said. “Whether it was hitting 3s, hitting shots, or just being an energizer, he was huge for us in the first half.”

Aside from Bruesewitz, the Badgers weren’t getting much other help. Forward Ryan Evans and guard Jordan Taylor combined for only 5 points in the first half as Wisconsin went into the locker room with a narrow 34-32 lead.

This was as close as Northwestern would come for the rest of the game, as the Badgers immediately showed that they were in control starting off the second half with two quick baskets inside from Evans and Berggren to take a 6-point lead.

Wisconsin would not look back as Taylor, who has struggled shooting so far this season at 36% from three-point range, knocked down three consecutive treys and assisted on another to Gasser giving the Badgers a 50-38 lead. Taylor ended up with 15 points and 6 assists in arguably his best game of the Big Ten campaign.

“Tonight, we saw the guy who last year for 10 games was the best player in conference,” Carmody said.

With the Badgers rolling from deep, Evans began to get open down low and was able to knock down seven consecutive points of his own, including a couple baskets in the low post.

Evans, who finished with a team-high 17 points, was able to score in a variety of ways as he continued to knock down jumper after jumper and finish around the rim.

“He has worked on some things in his game, and he has strengths,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “The more he plays to those strengths, the better of a team player he is because he gets results. He can get to the line, he can hit the glass, he can face up. He just has to keep working on being as consistent as he can with that.”

The Wildcats were not able to keep their momentum coming off a big win against Michigan State on Saturday, and never found a way back into the game after the early second half run by Wisconsin.

“I thought we did some real good things on offense in the first 15 minutes,” Carmody said. “But they came out in the second half and knocked down all those threes right away. They handled man pressure and the 1-3-1 very well.”

While the shots kept falling for Wisconsin all half, it wasn’t until the three-minute mark in the second half when the Badgers finally put the nail in the coffin as Taylor found Evans for an emphatic alley-oop on the backdoor lob.

“{Senior guard} Rob Wilson was saying how I couldn’t jump anymore,” Evans said jokingly, “I guess I just had to prove him wrong.”

Wisconsin’s scoring was very balanced as Gasser added in 10, the fourth Badger in double figures. Sophomore guard Ben Brust had 8 points off the bench, and Berggren had 5.

The Badgers quick turnaround from their 1-3 start in conference play to a record of 4-3 in just 10 days didn’t seem much of a surprise to Taylor and the Badgers.

“It is a night in, night out grind, even more so in the Big Ten as there are so many good teams in the conference,” Taylor noted. “Anybody can beat anybody, and you have to bring you’re A game every night, you cant stay down or up too long.”

The Badgers now look forward to a road showdown with the 15^th ranked Illinois Fighting Illni on Sunday, looking to continue a 3-game win streak that has them right back in the conference race.