Victory Sweet For Badgers As They Defeat Vandy

ALBUQUERQUE, NM-For the second straight season, Wisconsin men’s basketball is headed to the Sweet 16 after a 60-57 defeat of 5^th seed Vanderbilt Saturday at The Pit. In one of the more physically and emotionally intense game in recent memory, the 4^th seeded Badgers (26-9) overcame a late Commodore charge as senior guard Jordan Taylor erased a one-point deficit with a fade away three as the shot clock expired with 1:42 left in the game.

Vanderbilt junior guard John Jenkins would eventually get an open look to win the game with less than five seconds left, but could only watch as the ball clanked high off the rim and back down into the hands of Wisconsin junior forward Ryan Evans.

“No way, I wasn’t going to let him get that rebound,” Evans said. “He missed it and they weren’t going to get that rebound.”

The Badgers got Vanderbilt’s best on Saturday. While Jenkins and senior forward Jeffrey Taylor were held to just 7-of-25 shooting, senior forward Festus Ezeli dominated in the interior all afternoon. The Benin City, Nigeria native finished the game with 14 points and 11 rebounds, really opening up lanes for the sharpshooters on the Commodore perimeter.

“Jenkins and Taylor, they got off a little bit. And Ezeli is a monster,” UW junior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “We just tried to contain those guys and not let them get off like they have so many times before.”

But while the finale look from deep by Jenkins was an open one, most of the shots that the Commodores (25-11) were able to get were tightly contested. The Badgers closed out quick on shooters and drew six offensive fouls underneath, frustrated a Vanderbilt offense that came into the game averaging over 73 points per game.

“That last shot was the one time we didn’t have {Jenkins} covered…” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “That is what we do with people who are good shooters…It doesn’t always work, but I like our percentages.”  

Although it was Vanderbilt with the lead before Taylor stepped up for UW, the Badgers controlled the game for nearly the entire 40 minutes. Vanderbilt did not lead until Taylor hit a step back jump shot on the Dores opening possession of the second half and after Wisconsin responded with an 8-0 run, Vandy did not lead again until an Ezeli layup with just 2:19 left.

“We are playing with a lot of confidence,” Bruesewitz said. “I didn’t think at any point we were going to lose this game. They made a run but I knew somebody was going to step up and hit a big shot. It just happened to be Jordan today.”

All told, the Badgers led all but two minutes and nine seconds of the game. But the only lead that mattered was the one they had when the clock finally hit all zeros after junior forward Jared Berggren was able to deflect a last-gasp inbound thrown by Commodore senior Lance Golbourne into the air to bring the game to a close.

“I’ve never played in a game like that,” Evans said. “Most intense game of my life. It was a great feeling to dive on the floor, take charges and also be effective on the offensive end.”

Once again, UW found production from multiple sources. All three frontcourt starters finished in double figures, with Taylor ultimately leading the Badger scoring with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Sophomore guard Ben Brust came up big off the bench, adding 11 second-half points and four strong rebounds in just 20 minutes of action.

Beyond the five Badgers who finished in double digits, Wisconsin got a serious boost from sophomore guard Josh Gasser. Gasser, who was a game-time decision having dealt with flu-like symptoms throughout the night, finished with just two points and three rebounds, but those two points were crucial as they saved an otherwise ugly Badger possession and turned it into a bucket that would force a quick Vanderbilt timeout. Gasser’s 2^nd offensive rebound was perhaps even bigger, coming with just 19 seconds remaining and after a Taylor missed three that nearly led to a Vandy fast break.

“We know he didn’t have a pleasant evening,” Ryan said. “But there was no way that Josh Gasser wasn’t going to play.”

The Badgers now prepare to head to Boston where they will face top-seeded Syracuse, a team that has lost just twice this season. But with forward Fab Melo inactive due to eligibility issues, the Orange are vulnerable, a vulnerability that was on full display when they needed some timely help from the officials (and a mental mistake on a free throw) in order to outlast 16-seed UNC-Asheville in their tournament opener.

Given where the Badgers were back on Janurary 8^th, having just lost a third straight conference game to fall to 1-3 in Big Ten play, this Sweet 16 run is already special. But just having surpassed the expectations of many doesn’t mean that the Badgers aren’t hungry for more. Wisconsin has not made it beyond the Sweet 16 since 2005.

Now playing their best basketball of the season, the Badgers are ready to put an end to that drought.

“There are just some programs that have a way of doing things. They keep working hard and then sometimes every once in a while, things fall into place,” Ryan said. “That is what the tournament is all about.”