March is all about strange things happening in tournament action and nothing may be stranger than what happened for Wisconsin as they defeated Indiana 79-71 and will take on Michigan State tomorrow in the Semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. It was a strange game because Jordan Taylor was way off his game and fellow senior Rob Wilson led the team with 30 points.
Yes, you read that right, ROB WILSON led the team with 30 points. He had himself the game of a lifetime with that career high and is now the holder of the single game record for most made three pointers in Wisconsin history as he knocked down 7 three’s in the game, going 7-10 in the victory.
Wilson was amazing, but he wasn’t the only Badger player to play well as three others joined him in scoring double figures as Jared Berggren added 16 points and both Ryan Evans and Jordan Taylor had 12 points. Josh Gasser added 9 points as he was the only Badger that scored to not put up double figures. The Badgers ran their record with four players in double figures this season to 9-3.
As a team the Badgers finally found their shot, hitting 50% (13-26) from beyond the arc. Overall the Badgers shot 48.2% from the field for the game.
On a normal night Berggren’s effort would’ve highlighted the game as he added 9 rebounds to his 16 points and also had a block and a steal for a pretty complete effort from the big man. But between Wilson’s record setting effort and the significance of the victory his numbers weren’t nearly as talked about.
The win also pushed Bo Ryan into sole possession of the all-time Wins record at Wisconsin. He now has 266 wins, surpassing the legendary Harold “Bud” Foster.
In the loss Indiana was led by a trio of players in Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, and Cody Zeller who all scored 17 points a piece. The Hoosiers also shot the ball well, going 49% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc.
The biggest difference in the game was that the top 3 point shooting team in the Big Ten, Indiana, only took 6 three pointers all game long, so credit the Badgers for extending their defense to stop them from being able to get shots off from deep.
For the most part the 1st half was a back and forth affair, but with just over 15 minutes left Rob Wilson hit the first of back-to-back-to-back threes to give the Badgers a 20-13 lead that would eventually stretch to as many as 11 points.
After the fastbreak layup by Jordan Taylor that made it 30-21 the Hoosiers did a great job of closing down the deficit thanks to back to back trey’s by Christian Watford and Wisconsin went into the break up just 36-31.
Wilson had 10 of his 30 points in the 1st half and it was all needed as Jordan Taylor really struggled with fouls, a lack of vision on the offensive end, and just frustrated play all around.
The 2nd half didn’t start off much better for Taylor who ended up shooting just 3 of 12 from the field for the game. In fact he would take a seat on the bench for extended periods of time in the half with foul trouble and frankly the Badger offense was better off without him out there.
Gasser took over at the point and dished out 4 assists in the game and we saw a Badger offense that was much more active and motivated to move around and not just watch Taylor dribble deep into the shot clock before scrambling to jack up a shot.
It also led to many open opportunities for Wilson and others to show off their talents, which was a refreshing change of pace for Badger fans everywhere.
The half saw the Badgers make a few runs, getting close to blowing the game open before Indiana would make a run right back, but Wisconsin just had more than the Hoosiers today. And by more I mean Rob Wilson who capped off his 30 point performance by hitting a 3 pointer to seal it with just 35.4 seconds left. Some very late fouling by Indiana led to the somewhat overblown 8 point margin of victory, but a win is a win is a win.
Up next is the Big Ten Tournament Semifinal against Michigan State, who put up 90 points in blowing out Iowa in the first game of the day today. The game is scheduled to tip off at 12:40pm Central time tomorrow on CBS.
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