Beyond the Box Score: Wisconsin 95, Illinois 70

(Photo courtesy Mary Langenfeld, USA Today)

It sure didn’t take long for that one to become a laugher.

Bucking the trend of starting slow, Wisconsin took it right to the Fighting Illini by scoring 50 first half points. The Badgers were able to coast in the second half, to finish with a 95-70 win.

There sure isn’t much negative about this game, as it was an all-out beating that also moved Wisconsin to 16-0. With Ohio State already losing this week and Arizona (against UCLA) and Syracuse (against North Carolina) both having legitimate challenges, there is an outside chance Wisconsin could be ranked number one in the country.

Who would have guessed we’d have that conversation at the start of the year?

Let’s jump into the box.

• Five Badgers scored double digits and four of them were starters. Brust (18), Dekker (17), Kaminsky (15), Jackson (15), and Hayes (11) were the five. Gasser had six as the other starter. This is what has to frustrate opponents when playing the Badgers. Wisconsin just does not have one star that can be shut down to defeat the team. When you have six guys (heck Dukan and Koenig have their games too) that can put up double digits, you are dangerous.
• The Badgers only turned the ball over four times all game. I’m too lazy to actually look, but I’m guessing the number of teams this year to score 95 points and have less than five turnovers in the same game is pretty low.
• Gasser was the only starter to play 30 minutes (and he was right at that mark). While this may not be as important right now, games like this where Bo can rest his starters a little bit will be helpful in a rugged conference schedule. I’d still like to see him pull his starters a little earlier in games like this, but he’s going to do what he’s going to do.
• Evan Anderson with his first career three pointer. Good for him. He gets a lot of slack from Badger fans, but he’s stuck it out and you could tell his teammates were very happy for him.
• I can’t even find anything bad that’s worth talking about.

The Badgers are off this weekend before heading to Bloomington. The Hoosiers are down so far this year, but that’s never an easy place to play.