The No. 25 Wisconsin men's basketball team (4-1) got its first road win Saturday night, edging Rutgers 70-62. The Badgers were led by junior forward Mike Wilkinson, who finished with 26 points and six rebounds.
The Badgers jumped out to an early 16-6 lead thanks to a 16-4 run, but stalled in the middle of the first half. They did not score over a period of more than eight minutes, but their defense held up enough to maintain a 29-23 halftime lead.
Wisconsin got off to a quick start again in the second half, jumping out to a 13-point lead just four minutes into the half. But Rutgers stormed back, scoring the next eight points to cut the deficit to 42-37, but that was as close as the Badgers would let the Scarlet Knights get.
Wilkinson took over from there. He scored 15 of his points in the second half, including a stretch with less than nine minutes left in the game in which he scored 11 straight points.
\You go out there and you do what you can to win,"" Wilkinson said. ""Other games the shots haven't been there so I've been taking the ones I've had and they hadn't been going down. Tonight I had some open looks and they happened to be falling.""
Wilkinson had been averaging just 8.75 points going into the game with the Scarlet Knights. He shot 10-of-14 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
""Not too many people have a 6'9"" post man who can shoot it like Mike Wilkinson,"" senior guard Sharif Chambliss said.
UW shot nearly 61 percent from the floor in the second half and held off the Scarlet Knights for the eight-point win.
Chambliss got his first start of the season Saturday and did not disappoint. He finished with 14 points, thanks to four three-pointers in 17 minutes worth of action.
""I like the way he is aggressive in taking that look because he knows he's got that green light,"" UW Head Coach Bo Ryan said. ""He can shoot it from there.""
The other seniors pitched in as well. Forward Zach Morley grabbed nine rebounds to go along with eight points. Guard Clayton Hanson used two three-pointers for six points and dished out a career-high five assists.
The Badgers continue play Tuesday night when they host UW-Green Bay at the Kohl Center at 7 p.m.
-The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.