EVANSTON, Ill. - The nets stayed up and the fans remained in their seats, but Saturday's win proved to be just as sweet for the UW men's basketball team.
Three days after clinching a share of the Big Ten title at the Kohl Center, the Badgers went on the road and topped Northwestern 65-52 to secure the outright title in front of a pro-Badgers crowd of 8,117 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The celebration was not what it was Wednesday, but the satisfaction was still there as at least 5,000 Badger fans applauded the finishing touches on a remarkable regular season that included a UW record for conference wins (16) and road conference wins (eight).
Just knowing what's at stake and knowing how Badger fans are and how supportive they are, I think they wanted an outright championship just as bad as we did so that they don't have to go down to Indianapolis wearing the same gear as other people,"" senior forward Brian Butch said.
Butch led the way with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting and tied a career-high with 14 rebounds.
""Brian has been very effective for us and pretty consistent this year and to finish the regular season this way as a senior and to close it out this way, very appropriate for Brian Butch,"" head coach Bo Ryan said.
The Badgers (16-2 Big Ten, 26-4 overall) won the game in typical Wisconsin Basketball fashion: they played good defense throughout and took control of the game in two separate spurts on the offensive end.
""We can take 30 minutes out of every Northwestern game and they've kicked the crap out of the other team,"" Ryan said. ""There is a fine line in some of these games that [NU head coach Bill Carmody] and his team quite didn't get over, but when you play them, those kinds of runs where you get eight in a row, it's like 20 against them.""
The Badgers scored eight in a row at the end of the first half, closing it out with two nice drives from sophomore guard Jason Bohannon. On the first drive he dished to Butch for a layup, and on the second he finished it himself on a runner as time expired. Meanwhile, the defense held the Wildcats (1-17, 8-21) without a field goal for the final 5:27 of the half.
The second spurt came in a 16-4 run in a five and a half minute span in the second half that increased UW's lead from seven to 19. The run started after NU's Kevin Coble scored the Wildcats' first seven points of the second half, but again Wisconsin's defense buckled down.
""Some teams, you can work with them and show them but they just don't quite catch on to the point where it's good enough to maybe cut a net down, but this group, defensively, gave themselves a chance to be champions in the Big Ten,"" Ryan said.
The height and size advantage certainly did not hurt UW either. The Badgers out-rebounded NU 38-21.
""My guys have arms like me, which is not good,"" Carmody said. ""And their guys are just big strong guys and we weren't able to keep them off the backboard.""
In addition to the new high marks for victories, Wisconsin set another record Saturday. Bohannon, who finished with 15 points, also went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, surpassing Wes Matthew's record of 35-straight made free throws and setting the new mark at 39 and counting.
""Yeah I [knew the record was on the line],"" Bohannon said. ""As much as I really didn't want to think about it, I did. The last couple of games people have mentioned it and everything. Some people were joking around before I was going up to the line that it was [for the record]. Joe [Krabbenhoft] was saying something and Tanner [Bronson] too.""
It was fitting for this team that it took until the final regular season game to see a significant individual record broken. These Badgers pride themselves on teamwork and not individual accolades - a major reason why they won their eighth conference road game of the season and can call themselves outright Big Ten Champions.
""To be 8-1 on the road, I don't care what league you're in, that's pretty good,"" Ryan said.
