Wisconsin saw one point guard dash its hopes on Saturday, and it happened again on Tuesday as Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh poured in 28 points en route to the Wildcats’ 70-65 victory over the visiting Badgers.
McIntosh was the only Wildcats player to reach double figures on the night, but his performance was plenty to overcome a streaky Badgers effort and send UW (9-9, 1-4 B1G) to a three-game losing streak in the process.
Wisconsin countered with 17 points and six rebounds from junior forward Nigel Hayes, while freshman forward Ethan Happ joined him in double figures with 12 points and six rebounds of his own.
However, Bronson Koenig lost the battle of the point guards in a major way — putting up nine points, all from beyond the arc and getting outworked by McIntosh on the defensive end of court all night long.
The final score was rather indicative of the night for the Badgers, as Wisconsin struggled to get over a five-point deficit often. It was a clue that streaky shooting was on display, an all-too familiar tune for the Badgers on the season.
After getting out to a 3-2 lead, Wisconsin saw itself quickly behind 14-5 before it knew what hit it. Northwestern opened the game 5-6 from the field, with the Badgers just 2-6 and getting outrebounded 5-0 to open the contest.
The slow start combined with Wisconsin’s 2 of 9 shooting in the final minutes of the second half doomed the Badgers in what is becoming a familiar refrain for this team.
The hot start wouldn’t last for the hosts though, as the Wildcats cooled off on 1-5 shooting over the next few minutes and endured just over a 3:30 scoreless drought.
In the meantime, the Badgers found their offense and it led to a 5-5 stretch that pulled a nine-point Northwestern advantage to just one at 16-15 with 7:42 to play in the first half.
Vitto Brown got open looks, Nigel Hayes pounded the ball in the post and the freshmen got involved offensively as well. It was a glimpse of just how the offense is supposed to work when facing a zone defense like Northwestern put up against UW in the first half.
However, there were struggles and ups and downs for both teams throughout the first half.
Wisconsin took its second lead of the first half at 18-16 with 6:52 left to play, but it was a short-lived lead as Northwestern responded with five quick points and a 21-18 lead. The two teams continued to trade shots, and it left the scoreboard looking very close at the half — Northwestern up 26-24.
Ultimately, it was the free throw line that was the difference heading in to intermission, as both teams made the same amount of field goals (11) and three point shots (2). Both teams got to the line once, but it was the Wildcats holding the slim advantage, going 2-2 in the half while the Badgers were scoreless (0-1) from the charity stripe.
It was a true team effort for the Badgers in the half, as Hayes led the Badgers with just five points and seven of the eight players that saw the floor for UW got on the scoreboard. The only person missing from the points category was point guard Bronson Koenig, who was 0-3 from the field and beyond the arc in the half and recorded just one rebound as his lone stat of the half.
His counterpart, Bryant McIntosh, led all scorers with eight of his eventual 28 points in the first half. McIntosh also dished a half-leading three assists to help the Wildcats to the halftime lead.
The second half started off much like the first, with the Badgers hitting a three to take the early lead (27-26) and then watching as the offense disappeared for awhile.
Northwestern answered the opening triple with a four-point run of its own and retook the lead at 30-27 with 18:53 to play.
For nearly the next seven minutes, the Badgers kept in touch with the Wildcats and never trailed by more than five points.
It appeared things might be changing with 11 minutes to play though, as Bronson Koenig hit a desperation three pointer to tie the game up at 42-42.
However, a Derrick Pardon made free throw put Northwestern back up at 43-42 on the very next offensive sequence.
Wisconsin showed life and answered back with a five-point run and a 47-45 lead with 8:56 to play. It would be the last time the Badgers saw the positive side of the scoreboard though, and once again it had a shooting drought to blame for it.
The Badgers went 4-10 from the field the rest of the way, while Northwestern kept the Badgers at a distance thanks to a massive 35-13 advantage in free throw attempts on the night.
Wisconsin went field goal for field goal with Northwestern, shooting 47 percent (24-51) compared to 48 percent (22-46) for the Wildcats. Even a three-make advantage beyond the arc couldn’t overcome 12 extra points from the free throw line on the night.
The Badgers will look to end what is now a three-game losing streak when it hosts Michigan State at 12:30p.m. CT on Sunday.
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