Badgers Close Out the Regular Season In Style

It hasn’t always been easy for Wisconsin men’s basketball during the 2011-2012 season, but the Badgers have managed to work their way into position for yet another postseason run after finishing off the Big Ten season with a 70-56 win over Illinois. With their 11^th straight Senior Day victory under Bo Ryan, the Badgers (12-6 Big Ten, 23-8 Overall) now head into the postseason as the fourth seed in next weekend’s Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

After struggling out of the gates in Tuesday’s win over Minnesota, a quick start was something that the Badgers had emphasized all week. With the shots finally falling, UW was able to do just that on Sunday afternoon, taking the lead for good with a 12-0 that broke a 2-2 tie and kept the Illini (6-12 Big Ten, 17-14 Overall) at arm’s length the rest of the way. UW eventually grew that lead to 17 late in the first half and never looked back.

On senior day at the Kohl Center, it was seniors Rob Wilson and Jordan Taylor who led the early Wisconsin run. Taylor hit his first three-pointer of the game to start the aforementioned run and Wilson picked up the slack with two jumpers of his own from downtown.

“Its always difficult with all the hoopla and the emotions {of senior day},” Taylor said. “You just have to go out and play basketball to pick up the win.”

Wilson finished the game with 8 points, continuing to provide the Badgers with a much-needed source of scoring off the bench.

“{Last year} he was hurt and to me, it prevented his explosiveness, which is what he brings to the table,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “Now he has that explosiveness back and he is playing with a lot of confidence.”

“I always say it is better late than never,” Wilson added. “I just have to keep the mindset of trying to help the team off the bench in any way possible.”

Taylor would finish the half with 8 points of his own but would spend much of the 2^nd half getting his teammates involved. Although late free throws gave Taylor 16 points for the afternoon, sharing the team-high with fellow guard Josh Gasser, he did not score a point from the field and only took one shot, in the meantime racking up three assists and three rebounds.

“Those are definitely good games when we have balanced scoring,” Taylor noted. “When you get balanced scoring, it makes the offense much more potent.”

With Taylor the focus of the Illini defense, it was up to the “supporting cast” to keep Illinois at bay. That cast did just what they were asked to do, with junior forwards Ryan Evans and Jared Berggren joining Taylor and Gasser in double figures with 10 and 12 points, respectively.

“{Illinois} can get it going and hit threes in bunches,” Gasser said. “We knew we just had to keep the foot on the pedal.”

While it was ultimately for naught, Illinois junior guard Brandon Paul did all he could to keep the Illini in the game.

Paul was held in check for much of the first half, only getting to the 5-point mark with a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer. But the minute the second half began, Paul picked up his game. The Gurnee, Ill native finished with 17 second-half points for a game-high 22 on 8-of-17 shooting (6-of-9 in the second half). Paul also notched 6 rebounds and 2 assists, the assist total being a team-high (Illinois only had 3 assists in the game).

Wisconsin now heads to Indianapolis to face the winner of a 1^st round game between the 5^th and 12^th seeds. The Badgers will sit out the opening day and open the postseason in the 2^nd game of the Friday afternoon quarterfinal session.

“That can work both ways,” Ryan said. “Sometimes that team gets a game in and they are so much more relaxed the next day and some times that team has a tough time and is a bit fatigued.”

Either way, UW heads into postseason play with about as much momentum as any team in the conference. After losing last week at Iowa, the Badgers have reeled off three straight wins beginning with last week’s road win over Ohio State.

“Anytime you can go in {to the Big Ten Tournament} with three straight wins, its definitely a confidence builder,” Taylor said. “We are going to go down there expecting to win the whole thing but you just have to take it 40 minutes at a time.”

With the regular season now in the rear view mirror, the Badgers are just 3 of those 40 minute games from a Big Ten title and just 4 more away from the Final Four. Given the Badgers’ propensity to outplay expectation, the story of the 2011-2012 Wisconsin men’s basketball season seems to be far from written.