With the spotlight shining brighter and brighter on Wisconsin basketball as the season rolls on, the Badgers are learning they are going to get everyone's best effort. It's how they deal with the limelight that matters.
Wisconsin overcame a tough Iowa team Saturday afternoon at the Kohl Center en route to a 74-62 win, sweeping the season series against the Hawkeyes. Senior forward Alando Tucker scored a game-high 21 points and picked up the 2,000th point of his Badger career.
The 12-point win was far from telling. The Badgers (10-1 Big Ten, 24-2 overall) overcame 14 turnovers, nine from their veteran backcourt of senior guard Kammron Taylor and junior guard Michael Flowers, as well as numerous missed close shots to overcome the pesky Hawkeyes (6-5, 14-11).
""Thank goodness it's a 40-minute game,"" UW head coach Bo Ryan said. ""Things were uncharacteristic to me, but we're going to get everybody's best and they got it.""
The Badgers trailed by four at halftime after Iowa closed the first half on a 6-0 run capped off by a score from sophomore forward Cyrus Tate with five seconds remaining. Wisconsin shot just 36 percent in the first half, compared to 47 percent by Iowa.
But the Badgers regrouped in the second half. Flowers knocked down a 3-pointer to give UW a temporary lead and then the Hawkeyes and Badgers started going back and forth. During that run, junior forward Brian Butch knocked down a 3-pointer, three of his 15 points.
""It was about time that I actually did something to help this team,"" said Butch, who had a double-double last time the two teams played. ""There have been a couple of games in the past where I haven't played real well. So it was just time.""
But even more important to the Badger run was the play of sophomore forward Joe Krabbenhoft. The gritty underclassman continued to play like a veteran. In a span of just over two minutes, he converted on two put-backs. He finished with eight points and eight rebounds, five of which were offensive. In fact, the Badgers out-rebounded the Hawkeyes by nine and had 13 offensive rebounds, resulting in 24 second-chance points.
After freshman forward Tyler Smith scored on a 3-point play to put Iowa up by one, Taylor knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Badgers the lead for good. After a fast-break slam by Tucker sent the Kohl Center crowd to their feet, the Hawkeyes cut the lead down to five, 67-62, with just under three minutes remaining. But sophomore forward Marcus Landry, who had a quiet night, knocked down a three, and sent the Badgers on their way.
In Iowa, the Badgers were able to hold the dynamic duo of Smith and senior guard Adam Huluska, the Big Ten's leading scorer, to 6-of-35 shooting. Saturday afternoon, Huluska did score 16 points to lead the Hawkeyes, but the pair shot only 10-of-33 from the floor.
Iowa head coach Steve Alford, who said Smith popped his finger out in the first half, mentioned that the Badgers were not doing anything special to keep just Smith and Huluska from scoring.
""I don't think it's just Adam and Tyler, I think it's everybody,"" said Alford, who also remarked that Huluska hurried his shot. ""When you're 24-2 and 10-1, you're giving a lot of people fits. They just do a very nice job.""
The Badgers were also helped by 11 points from Taylor and a strong effort from senior center Jason Chappell who scored six and pulled down seven rebounds.
As for Tucker, who joined Michael Finley in the 2,000 point club on his first shot of the game, he's looking forward to achieving much more. The senior is now 128 points away from Finley's record 2,147 and includes potential Final Four games when trying to figure out whether he can break the record. Either way, Tucker was just happy the magical number came in a victory.
The Badgers will play three out of their next four games on the road, starting with a game on the road against Minnesota at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
