Wisconsin came in to today’s game at Illinois on a 3 game winning streak and looking to get back into the conference title race by taking down the 25th ranked Illini to prove they are back. After a 67-63 win it’s now 4 straight and they are now just a game back of 1st place in the craziest Big Ten season in many a year.
The win improved Wisconsin to 16-5 overall and 5-3 in conference play. On the other hand the
Illini have dropped 2 straight after knocking off Ohio State and are a half game behind Wisconsin with a 4-3 conference record while sporting a 15-5 overall record.
Jordan Taylor lead the way for Wisconsin, playing perhaps his most complete game of the season. He scored a game high 19 points, grabbed a team high 9 rebounds, and had 5 assists on the day.
Despite having 4 of it’s 5 starters score in double figures the Illini couldn’t get it done down the stretch in the loss. Meyers Leonhard led Illinois in scoring, pouring in 16 points and was followed by Joseph Bertrand with 15 points, D.J. Richardson with 13 points, and Brandon Paul with 10 points.
Once again it took Wisconsin awhile to get going as they were just 1 for their first 5 from the field early on and the Illini got out to a 7-2 lead before a 3 point basket by Josh Gasser cut into that lead.
It was a half of streaks as both teams found themselves hot and cold at times. Wisconsin started out the half shooting only 2-7, but then hit 5 of their next 6 shots as they took an 18-13 lead, which was all part of a 16-6 run for the Badgers.
Illinois answered back with a run of their own (13-6) and Wisconsin went cold form the field and the line, helping the Illini regain the lead at 24-23. With the streaks going on in the half it was only fitting that these two teams would end up tied at 26 as they headed to the locker rooms for the break.
Jared Berggren led the Badgers in scoring in the 1st half, pouring in 10 of his 18 points and adding 3 rebounds. He was outdone however by Joseph Bertrand from Illinois, who had 12 points.
Both teams held the others top scorers pretty well in check as Jordan Taylor only had 5 points and Illinois Brandon Paul only added 2 free throws to the Illini effort in the 1st half. Overall the Badgers were able to hold Paul to 10 points below his average in conference play.
Wisconsin stayed in it in the half thanks to controlling the pace of action, 50% shooting from the outside (4-8) and the defense holding Illinois to only 34.5% field goal shooting. Wisconsin should’ve been up at the half, but 2-8 free throw shooting in the half as well as an uncharacteristic 8 turnovers prevented that from happening.
In the 2nd half the Badgers stayed hot and limited the turnovers that plagued them in the 1st half, only committing 2 in the 2nd half. It also didn’t hurt that Jordan Taylor scored 14 of a game best 19 points in the half as well.
Wisconsin also got a huge advantage towards the win with their bench scoring, which outpaced the Illini 14-0 for the game. Most of that came from Ben Brust who was really the savior of the Badgers on a few occasions grabbing huge offensive rebounds to go along with his 9 points off the bench.
The Badgers will look to continue their hot streak as it takes on a significant opponent in Indiana, which is just one game back of Wisconsin at 4-4, on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. These two teams should both be ranked by that point and tip is scheduled for 8pm Central on ESPN2.
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