Badgers advance to Sweet 16

Having to come from behind yet again, the Badgers looked very much at home in erasing a six-point deficit over the final eight minutes to grab a 70-65 win over Kansas State (23-11).

In order to move on to the Sweet 16 next weekend in New Orleans, UW (25-8) had to overcome a poor shooting night for junior guard Jordan Taylor (2-of-16 from the field) while also matching the points that Kansas State senior guard Jacob Pullen put up on seemingly every possession. Pullen finished with 38, but the loss means that his career performance will also be his last in a Wildcat uniform.

Though Pullen clearly came out victorious in what many media types had billed "Jacob vs. Jordan," Jordan will be the one in uniform for Thursday's regional semifinal.

"The scoreboard on the bottom of the TV doesn't say Jordan vs. Jacob," Taylor said after the game. "It says Wisconsin vs. Kansas State, and we won."

With Taylor unable to get going on the offensive end, it was up to the supporting cast to keep the Badgers' season alive.

Senior forward Tim Jarmusz had eight points on 3-3 shooting. Freshman guard Josh Gasser collected 11 points on 3-4 shooting from the field, adding seven rebounds and four free throws in the process, the last two of those icing the game with 1.1 seconds to play.

"We just made plays," senior forward Jon Leuer said. "Everybody stepped up, right down the line."

But perhaps the biggest contribution came from sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz. No longer known simply as the team redhead, the hero of the Feb. 12 victory over No. 1 Ohio State came through again. In only his second game since suffering what, at the time, appeared to be a serious knee injury in the Big Ten Tournament, Bruesewitz gave UW 11 points and six rebounds. None of those points were bigger than the three that came with just over 90 seconds to play, giving the Badgers the lead for good.

"He's done it against Ohio State and he did it again tonight," Taylor said. "He's one of the toughest kids I've known and he's a heck of a teammate."

After relying on the production of Taylor and Leuer for much of the season, the supporting cast seems to have found its footing just in time for a tournament run. Ultimately, the 15 bench points, not to mention the 19 from Gasser and Jarmusz, proved to be the difference with UW's two first team All-Big Ten performers just 8-of-26 combined from the field.

"I think guys are realizing that we need to be confident," Bruesewitz said. "Confidence is a big thing in March."

While the shooting stats seem to indicate a night of frustration for Taylor, he was able to control possession throughout the game and make plays down the stretch that were crucial in getting UW out on the left side of the scoreboard.

"His 6-to-0 assist to turnover ratio says that he stayed focused when he was having a rough time scoring," UW head coach Bo Ryan said. "He's a taskmaster of his own skills and his own abilities and he's not going to throw the rest of it away simply because some things have gotten away from him."

Taylor controlled the Wisconsin offensive and kept his leadership role, eventually making a big play of his own by blocking Pullen's attempt at a game-tying three-point shot.

"I was just trying to do something to slow him down and play my part in the win," Taylor said. "And that happened to be it."

Despite some who have criticized Wisconsin's style for its lack of excitement, the Badgers are in the Sweet 16 and remain alive for a title run.

"We come out and play hard every day," Taylor said. "If people think we're boring, there are a lot of channels on TV they can watch."

"We just try to be on the left-hand side when the buzzer sounds," Ryan said.

Ultimately, the Badgers did just that in both games in Tucson and earned their way into a regional date in New Orleans against No. 8-seed Butler Thursday.

It sure would be nice if the Badgers can make to the Final Four.  GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Badgers to play Michigan

The No. 12 Wisconsin men's basketball team will hit the road Wednesday to take on a red hot Michigan team in Ann Arbor. Winners of five out of their last six, the Wolverines (7-8 Big Ten, 17-11 overall) have gotten themselves squarely back onto the bubble, now competing for fourth place in the Big Ten with Illinois, Michigan State, Penn State and Minnesota.

While Michigan opened Big Ten play losing six of its first seven conference games, including a 23-point loss to Purdue and a 19-point drubbing to a struggling Indiana squad, the recent turnaround has them currently playing some of its best basketball of the year. It seems Michigan is poised to give the Badgers a challenge much like similarly streaky teams in Penn State and Iowa, both of whom welcomed UW to their home arena precisely when they were playing their best basketball of the season.

The Wolverines surprised many by winning their first game in East Lansing since 1997, the young team has turned things around and in the process has begun a long climb up the Big Ten standings.  Now coming off a come-from-behind road victory against Iowa, the Wolverines are as confident as they have been all season.

"We're more focused on trying to stop teams," Michigan freshman forward Jordan Morgan said of the added defensive intensity. "[We're] playing with more energy and taking teams out of their rhythm."

The sharp shooting backcourt of sophomore guard Darius Morris and freshman guard Tim Hardaway, Jr. have lead the Wolverines in their recent surge.

"Morris seems like he's been a little more consistent, and that's pretty important when you've got the ball in your hands as much as he does," UW head coach Bo Ryan said.

"He's being smart about the shots he takes and he knows the times when we need big shots," Morgan said of Hardaway, who notched a career-high 30 points in the Wolverines 75-72 overtime win at Iowa. "He's got a lot of confidence and his confidence is growing with every good game he has."

Despite the confidence building in Michigan's dangerous backcourt, the frontcourt will likely have their hands full Wednesday night.

The Badger's senior frontcourt duo Keaton Nankivil and Jon Leuer stand at a respective 6'8" and 6'10". In comparison, Michigan's frontcourt Morgan and junior forward Zack Novak are just 6'8" and 6'4" respectively. The Badgers will not only have a size advantage in the paint; Wisconsin will also have a crucial advantage in the experience column.

After shooting just 20 percent from the field in Wisconsin's previous three games, Nankivil erupted Sunday against Penn State. He nailed all five of his three-point attempts on his way to 22 points.

"Their pick-and-roll situation is tough to guard because they'll pop," Morgan added. "They've got a lot of guys who can shoot it, so that puts us in a lot of recovery situations."

If the Badgers hope to come out of Ann Arbor will a win, they will need to take advantage of those recovery situations and shoot the ball well from range, something they have thus far been unable to do on the road.

Let's hope that Bucky can keep it rolling.  GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Badgers Beat #1 Ohio State

In Saturday's clear-cut marquee match-up, the No. 14 Wisconsin men's basketball team stunned top-ranked and previously unbeaten Ohio State (21-1 Big Ten, 24-1 overall) by finishing the game on a 39-20 run to pick up a 71-67 victory.

With the victory, Wisconsin becomes just the eighth school to take down a top-ranked team in both football and basketball during the same school year, and just the second to do so against the same school (Florida pulled the trick against Ohio State in 2006-‘07).

Sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz might have made the play of the game with a clutch three in the final minute, but junior guard Jordan Taylor left little doubt about player of the game honors.  After struggling to just six first-half points, Taylor shined in the second half, leading the Badger comeback with 21 second half points including 10 over a three minute stretch that ultimately saw UW erase a 15 point deficit with a 15-0 run.

"We just had to toughen up," Taylor said. "They made a run and we knew we had a run in us."

If there were any doubters about Taylor's rightful place as one of the nation's best, this 27-point, seven assist,  four-rebound performance should silence them now.

"What he did there," UW head coach Bo Ryan said. "I don't think there's too many players in the country, not just this year but all time, who've done that, especially against the number one team."

What shined through in Saturday's win was the resiliency that, by all accounts, defines this year's Wisconsin squad. The Badgers not only overcame a double-digit deficit against the top team in the nation, but did so just three days after battling their way to an overtime victory in Iowa City against the struggling Hawkeyes.

"To do what they did and have those kind of legs and arms, to have Ohio State get the lead they got and then get the lead ourselves," Ryan added. "I don't know what else you can say about these guys about how tough they are."

As many expected, the crowd played a huge role in bringing down the Buckeyes. While a Buckeye run early in the second half seemed to knock the crowd out of it, Taylor responded with back-to-back threes to cut the lead to seven with 11:22 left. More importantly, however, he brought the raucous crowd back onto their feet.

"He came down and gave us back-to-back threes and got us right back into it," senior forward Jon Leuer said. "From there, we had the momentum, you could just feel the energy in the building."

Averaging over 18 points a game coming into Saturday, Leuer struggled against a physical Ohio State front line that held the Naismith Award candidate to just 12 points and six rebounds on 5 of 14 shooting.

Even with Taylor's career day, Leuer's struggles made the contributions from Bruesewitz and freshman guard Josh Gasser all the more crucial in the Badgers' 17th straight home victory.

"We talked about having [Bruesewitz] be the guy who beats us," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said after the game. "And today, he did."

In addition to Bruesewitz's 12 crucial points off the bench (capped off by the aforementioned three-pointed), Gasser once again stepped up when needed most, going for 11 points and seven rebounds. Not counted in those stats, though, was a pivotal tip late in the ballgame that allowed Leuer to secure an offensive rebound and maintain possession.

"He makes those kinds of plays all the time that you might not see in the box score," Leuer said. "But he's the kind of kid who's hard-nosed and sticks his face into the ball."

Despite the late drama, the energy of the crowd suggested very few of the 17,000 plus that packed the Kohl Center would have imagined the comeback possible when the Buckeye lead stood at 47-32. But somehow, someway, the Badgers found a way to win with their backs against the wall, completing just the sixth comeback of 15 points or more in program history.

While the Badgers are certainly going to celebrate the win, they already have an eye on a road test against Purdue coming up Wednesday night.

 "This was a huge win for us to keep moving forward but we're not done yet," Leuer added. "We feel like we still have a lot of work left to do and we're just trying to get better every day so we can be playing our best basketball down the stretch."

It looks like Bucky is getting hot at the right time.  Can you say Final Four????

 GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Badgers Looking to Beat Hawkeyes

Bo Ryan and Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery have plenty in common. In addition to both being at the helm of their representativeBig Ten men's basketball programs, Ryan and McCaffery are also both proud Pennsylvania natives.

McCaffery grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., nearly 300 miles away from Ryan's hometown of Chester. Despite this distance, Ryan has gotten to know McCaffery quite well both as an athlete and coach.

"[Fran] was a heck of a player, tough competitor—kind of a playground guy too," Ryan said. "He's a very competitive guy so coaching seems to fit him."

McCaffery's Hawkeyes (3-8 in Big Ten, 10-13 overall) are coming off back-to-back Big Ten wins, and will be looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season when UW visits Carver-Hawkeye Arena Wednesday night.

Hovering around the .500 mark, the Hawkeyes have been a Jekyll and Hyde team, especially on the defensive end of the floor. In Iowa's ten victories this year, their opponents are averaging 53.1 points and shooting 35 percent from the field, including 24 percent from three. However, the Hawkeyes are also 0-12 when opponents shoot a better field goal percentage and 0-9 when out-rebounded.

Still, Iowa has won two straight games and is certainly peaking just in time for the Badgers' arrival.

"In scheduling, it's always about when you play a team and where you play them," Ryan said. "And if there's a team playing with more confidence than Iowa I don't know who that would be, other than Ohio State."

The all-time series between Iowa and UW is tied at 76-76, although the Hawkeyes hold the advantage at home 48-25.

Despite winning four of six in Iowa City, this time around won't be as easy whenlooking at Iowa's 10-13 record.

"You ask a lot of coaches; they would tell you they would much rather have played Iowa a month ago," said Ryan. "But that happens a lot in our league."

That said, the Badgers are playing with a bit of confidence of their own. UW has won five of six, with two of those victories coming against teams then ranked in the AP Top 20.

Junior guard Jordan Taylor and senior forward Jon Leuer, arguably the best duo in the Big Ten, have no doubt led the recent charge. The tandem is averaging a conference-best 39.6 combined points per game, and Taylor owns the nation's best assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.9.

Despite Taylor's emergence as one of the elite guards in the nation, he was absent from Monday's Cousy Award finalists, given annually to the nation's top point guard, another indication of just how under-the-radar the Bloomington, Minn. native has gone this season.

But Coach Ryan noted that while the ten finalists are all deserving of the honor, his focus has always been on the team and its maturity throughout the season.

"I never worried about what lists anybody's on or what awards or anything else," Ryan said. "I'm still one of those old coaches that never gives out any individual awards at any of our functions because I always thought it had Wisconsin on the front of the jersey."

Through it all, Ryan knows this disappointment will not deter Taylor from remaining one of the league's top performers.

"Jordan will be okay," Ryan said with a smirk. "He'll recover from that."

With a confident Iowa team up next on the docket, he'll have to recover quickly if the Badgers hope to continue their winning ways and head back home on a good note.

Badger Basketball looks like they are on a roll.  GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Badger Hoops take charge

The Wisconsin men's basketball team returned home and earned a statement victory over NC State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, helping the Big Ten to its second consecutive win in the annual competition.

The convincing 87-48 win over the Wolfpack helped erase the negativity of last weekend's offensive struggles in Orlando.

Though they weren't alone, the Badgers struggled mightily from the field in Orlando, shooting under 40 percent from the field and under 30 percent from behind the 3-point arc.

Returning home for the first time in more than two weeks, Wisconsin was a different team on Wednesday, shooting at a 50 percent clip (28 for 56) including 55 percent (11 for 20) from downtown.

"I think a lot of guys got into the gym, got some jump shots up," sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz said. "Plus it's always nice to be back home."

"[We] just ran good offense, got good looks, and knocked them down," head coach Bo Ryan said. "You have to believe that when you shoot, the next one is going to go in."

Although much of the improvement was simply the result of Wisconsin having one a when seemingly every shot falls, there was a definite increase in the aggression with which the Badgers played on the offensive end, especially from the guards.

"I think everybody is being more aggressive as a whole," junior point guard Jordan Taylor said. "I was trying to get in the lane more, open up for other people."

That renewed aggression, not only offensively but on the defensive end as well, allowed UW to turn what was a tight contest early on into a halftime blow-out. The Badgers held NC State scoreless in the last 6:36 of the first half and extended a ten-point lead into a 44-21 laugher at the intermission.

The NC State scoring drought would extend into the second half, eventually coming to a close on a Scott Wood steal and lay-up that ended a 23-0 UW run over 10:12 of playing time.

After failing to hold onto a late lead against the Fighting Irish, this Badger run to put away a young NC State team showed that Wisconsin remains adept at holding onto and building leads.

"We always want to get off to a good start because we feel if we can play with a lead it is to our benefit," senior forward Jon Leuer said. "It's hard for teams to come back against us."

After building and adding onto that lead, Wisconsin stayed true to its principles and grinded down an NC State team that started just one upperclassman.

The Wisconsin victory—their third straight in the annual challenge—helped the Big Ten claim just its second overall victory since it started in 1999. The first came last year.

"It means a lot, we take pride in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge," Leuer said. "[And] it builds up our conference RPI which is a positive."

Let's hope Bucky can keep it going. GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cornell Crushes Badgers

For 11 seconds, Wisconsin and Cornell were tied in Sunday’s game. Then Big Red forward Ryan Wittman hit a quick jumper, making it 2-0 in favor of Cornell.
That was just the beginning of the rout Sunday as No. 12 seed Cornell knocked off No. 4 seed Wisconsin 87-69 at Veterans Memorial Arena. The win was just the second NCAA victory in school history for Cornell, which will face the Kentucky Wildcats in the Sweet 16.
After Wittman hit the first shot of the game for Cornell, the Ivy League champions put on a shooting clinic over the final 39 minutes and 49 seconds.
“When you play a team that can shoot like they did, obviously 69 points just wasn’t good enough,” junior forward Jon Leuer said. “They were on fire.”
For the first half, Cornell shot 59.3 percent overall and 50 percent from the 3-point range. After halftime, the Big Red were even better, connecting on 63 percent of their attempts and 57.1 from long distance.
Wittman was particularly impressive, shooting 10-for-15 on the day and 3-of-5 beyond the arc. The senior from Eden Prairie, Minn., finished with 24 points, two assists and two steals.
Additionally, it was a game of milestones for Wittman, who broke his own school record for points in a season with 586 and became just the fifth player in Ivy League history to score 2,000 career points.

Hopefully it was a good learning experience for next year. GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Badgers Dominate Illini

Foul trouble? Who cares about that?Senior guard Trevon Hughes and junior forward Jon Leuer worked in and out of foul trouble all game but still got the job done offensively and helped the Badgers defeat Illinois, 72-57.
Hughes sat out a great portion of the first half because of fouls but managed to record his first double-double in his final regular-season game at Wisconsin. Hughes finished the contest with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Leuer also danced around foul trouble Sunday, picking up a third foul in the opening minutes of the second half. Then, after only a two-minute stint on the bench, he came in and promptly picked up his fourth. But the forward, who did not play in the first meeting between the two teams, was a force offensively, scoring 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field.
“They get in foul trouble, which they never seem to get in foul trouble,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. “And we couldn’t take advantage of it.”
When Hughes was on the bench, sophomore guard Jordan Taylor handled the offensive reins and matched Leuer’s offensive output with 20 points. Taylor shot 8-of-17 from the field, including 3-of-6 from long distance, and added eight rebounds and three assists to ensure the Badgers did not miss a beat when Hughes, their starting point guard, was relegated to the bench.
Of Hughes’ and Taylor’s 19 rebounds, 10 were on the offensive side of the ball. Junior forward Keaton Nankivil added five offensive rebounds.
“The thing we said could make a difference in the game were loose balls, rebounds, and they were able to get them,” Weber said.
Illini junior guard Demetri McCamey, who torched the Badgers for 27 in the teams’ first meeting, never got going like he did in Madison, scoring 11 points Sunday on 2-of-8 shooting. Junior center Mike Tisdale led all Illini with 16 points on Illinois’ Senior Day.
The No. 16 Badgers (13-5 Big Ten, 23-7 overall) will now close the book on the regular season and focus on the Big Ten Tournament beginning Friday, which rematches the Badgers against the Illini.
Illinois (10-8, 18-13) now sits in a precarious position in terms of its NCAA Tournament prospects. If the Badgers believed they were facing a desperate team today, Friday will be against a team ultimately in a must-win situation.
“We got one last chance to make the season a positive one, but we’ve got to play smarter and we’ve got to get better effort on both sides of the court,” Weber said.
Tisdale echoed the same sentiment as Weber, knowing this could be the team’s final chance to somehow get back into the NCAA Tournament picture.
“It’s do or die,” Tisdale said.
It is great to see the Badgers turn it up in March. GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon Leuer is ICE COLD in his Return

Wisconsin was supposed to have an added lift entering Thursday’s game against hated Minnesota. With UW getting junior forward Jon Leuer back from his broken wrist and with the Gophers being losers of seven of their past 10 games, this contest had a Badger win written all over it.
Somebody forgot to write that in the script.
Behind 16 points from junior guard Blake Hoffarber and a dominating effort on both the offensive and defensive glass from a hungrier Gopher squad, Minnesota extended its current winning streak over UW to three with an emphatic 68-52 win inside a sold-out Williams Arena.
With the loss, UW not only dropped its second of three games, but also essentially squashed any hopes of a Big Ten title.
“It’s always tough to lose a game in the Big Ten,” said senior guard Jason Bohannon, who chipped in 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting. “Especially when you’re right in the heat of a title race. It’s tough.
“Minnesota came ready to play, and we just didn’t finish the game tonight.”
The Gophers finished the game by hitting 47.6 percent of their shots from the floor in comparison to UW’s 30.5-percent clip. Minnesota also controlled the glass, as the Gophers out-boarded Wisconsin by a 41-28 margin.
Let's hope the Badgers can learn from this experience and turn in around. GO BUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!