A huge second half effort on both ends of the court helped the No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers erase a five-point halftime deficit and cruise to a 93-84 win at Marquette.
It moves the series record to 67-56 in favor of the Cardinal and White and restarts Wisconsin’s win streak that was snapped last season.
Six Badgers finished the day in double figures, led by senior point guard Bronson Koenig’s 18 points. However, the big story was Nigel Hayes’ day, as he put up a near double-double with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Joining them in double figures were Khalil Iverson (16), Vitto Brown (13), Ethan Happ (11) and Zak Showalter (11).
Wisconsin was in foul trouble from the get go on Saturday afternoon, as Ethan Happ picked up a foul on Marquette’s opening possession and Vitto Brown would end the half with a huge mistake.
Brown raced out to the perimeter to stop a three-point attempt, only to be out of control and foul. Marquette guard Andrew Rowsey hit all three free throws and a one-possession game became a 40-35 lead for the hosts.
Happ spent the majority of the first half on the bench with two early fouls. However, once inserted in to the lineup to start the second half, Happ was a huge difference maker. The sophomore would finish the day with 11 points and five rebounds in just 17 minutes of action.
The second half was a completely different story from the first, as Wisconsin used two big runs on the offensive side of the ball and stifling defense to ease their way to victory.
While Marquette went over six minutes without a field goal, the Badgers were getting busy on the offensive end of the floor. UW had a 16-0 run over the majority of that time and a 26-5 run in 7:16 of the second half.
The Badgers shot 64 percent in the second half, while holding Marquette to 44.8 percent (13-29 from the field).
It was basically over from that point forward, as Wisconsin maintained control of the game and never let the lead dip under an eight-point advantage (89-81 Wisconsin with 37 seconds left to play).
Observations:
- Wisconsin’s big men couldn’t stay out of foul trouble in this game, with the trio of Brown Happ and Hayes combining for five of UW’s eight total fouls in the first half alone. The Badgers finished the game with 18 team fouls and nine of those were from this trio. So, it should be no surprise that Wisconsin struggled when they were in trouble and blossomed when they weren’t committing fouls.
- How good was Wisconsin’s defense? Try forcing 12 turnovers and then putting up 22 points off said turnovers. That’s how much a good defensive performance matters on both ends of the court.
- The free throw line was finally good to the Badgers on Saturday afternoon. Wisconsin shot 21 of 29, and made more free throws than Marquette — something most wouldn’t have believed going in to the game. Nigel Hayes and Khalil Iverson made big boy moves in the paint and forced plenty of fouls to happen. Hayes was just 4 of 8 from the line, but Iverson was 5-7 from the charity stripe to help pick up his teammates.
Grades:
Up Next:
Wisconsin will host Green Bay on Wed., Dec. 14 at 8p.m. CT. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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