It was as easy as one, two, three. After defeating Savannah State Thursday night, the Badgers methodically disposed of the Florida A&M Rattlers 88-40 Friday and then capped off the weekend with a 78-52 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday at the Kohl Center to win the America’s Youth Classic.
Wisconsin (4-0) never trailed in the three-day, four-team tournament and outscored its opponents by an average of 39 points.
Junior forward Marcus Landry, senior forward Brian Butch and sophomore guard Trevon Hughes were named to the All-Tournament team. Hughes also received tournament Most Valuable Player.
The Queens, N.Y., native recorded 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal against Florida A&M and followed with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals versus the Buffaloes.
“What he gives us is a guy that can take care of the ball, a guy that can get by people, a guy that can get in the gaps,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “He’s knocking down some shots and he’s playing with confidence.”
Hughes only committed five total turnovers in Friday and Saturday night’s games and made several impressive feeds to his teammates.
“He always keeps us on our toes,” Landry said of his point guard. “You never know where a pass is going to come from.”
Colorado opened in a matchup zone defense, but 3-pointers by guards Jason Bohannon, Michael Flowers, who once again both came off the bench, and Hughes helped UW build a 23-8 lead midway through the half.
Hughes also knifed his way through the defense, finding Landry and freshman forward Jon Leuer down low on passes through traffic.
“When we started getting penetration through that zone, everything came easily,” Hughes said. “We got easy shots, good looks at the basket.”
The Badgers led 44-27 at halftime.
Senior center Greg Stiemsma rejected any hopes of a Colorado comeback by tallying four blocks in the first five minutes of the second half. He finished with five rejections, which tied a career high.
“That’s one thing Greg does excellent,” Butch said. “He times it perfectly. Knowing that you have a presence down low that can bail you out if you get beat a couple times, I think it gives our guards a chance to get out there and pressure a little bit more.”
Senior guard Richard Roby scored 20 points for Colorado while Butch and Flowers finished with 17 and 12 respectively for UW.
Although Ryan admitted Wisconsin had the privilege of playing on their home court and remaining in Madison for the tournament, he said he liked his team’s unselfish play after the first four games.
“We know there’s tough road games out there and tough home games coming,” Ryan said. “But I saw progress, and as long as that’s the mindset they have, we’ll be okay.”
