The hottest team in the Big Ten Conference continued its big push towards an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wisconsin men's basketball team made another large statement Saturday as they went into Minnesota's Williams Arena and knocked off the Golden Gophers (7-5 Big Ten, 14-9 overall) 67-62 in front of a sold-out crowd of 14,854.
Wisconsin (9-5 Big Ten, 16-11 overall) was led by junior guard Kirk Penney's 30 points and five assists; 27 of those points came after halftime as he rallied the Badgers from a double-digit deficit early in the second half.
Unlike the Feb. 13 game at Indiana, only one other player (freshman forward Devin Harris, who finished with 11 points) scored in double figures for the Badgers. However, Penney's play down the stretch proved to be the difference.
The Auckland, New Zealand native scored 13 of UW's final 19 points, including the last eight to finish the come-from-behind victory.
While Penney's heroics helped secure the win, a poor start saw the Badgers miss six of its first eight shots in the second half and trail by as much as 13 before the Penney-led rally brought the Badgers back into the game.
As for the Gophers, they had no answer for Penney and his hot shooting.
Whether it was a drive down the lane or a three-point shot, little of what Minnesota did was successful as Penney connected on nine of 13 shots, including six of nine from beyond the three-point line.
The Gophers were paced by junior center Jerry Holman and his 17 points. Freshman forward Rick Rickert, a leading candidate for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, managed 12 points.
After their four-game winning streak, the Badgers are now in third place in the Big Ten, one-half game ahead of the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Golden Gophers.
Wisconsin resumes play tomorrow night when it plays host to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
