The Badgers now control their own fate as they beat Michigan 73-42 last night at the Kohl Center. The win moves Wisconsin (10-4 Big Ten, 20-6 overall) into first place by half a game over Michigan (9-4, 16-10 overall) in the Big Ten.
The victory extended Wisconsin's home winning streak against conference foes to 15 games.
Wisconsin's league-leading defense held Michigan to 31 percent shooting from the field and allowed only one three pointer the entire game.
\On our end, everything was like a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle that came together in 40 minutes,"" Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan said. ""The pieces fit.""
Sophomore forward Mike Wilkinson led the team in scoring for the second game in a row, scoring 16 points along with his five rebounds and three steals. Freshman forward Alando Tucker recorded his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
""I'm not sure if any defense was going to stop [Wisconsin] the way that they were shooting,"" Michigan Head Coach Tommie Amaker said.
The key of the game for UW was stopping Michigan freshman star guard Daniel Horton. Horton was coming off of a career-high 31 point contest at Purdue. However, last night, the freshman talent scored two points and turned the ball over six times.
""[Horton]'s a freshman and there has been so much that has been asked of him,"" Amaker said. ""This is one of those games that we would not like to remember from his freshman year.""
Wisconsin was hoping that if Horton would struggle that the Wolverines would not be able to compensate for it.
""We wanted to make sure that [Horton] didn't get off like he did the first game [against UW],"" sophomore guard Devin Harris said. ""And hopefully that would then trickle down to the rest of the team.""
Horton was not the only one for the Wolverines that struggled against a stingy Badger defense. Senior guard LaVell Blanchard only made one field goal in eight attempts.
Michigan did find some success from two of their players. Junior guard Bernard Robinson, Jr. and freshman guard Lester Abram both scored 14 points each in the losing effort. In comparison, the rest of the Wolverine team could only score 14 points.
""I don't know what else we could do,"" Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan said. ""We did everything well. The guys played off one another, played to one another, played with one another.\
