The UW men's basketball team continued its red-hot 3-point shooting and sent Penn State (1-11 Big Ten, 10-15 overall) home with its 11th straight loss with a 75-49 victory Saturday at the Kohl Center.
The Nittany Lions' zone defense never stood a chance as Wisconsin (12-1, 26-2) knocked down 12-of-23 3-pointers in the game.
With senior forward Alando Tucker struggling in the first half with only one field goal, freshman guard Jason Bohannon took advantage of the zone and knocked down 3-of-4 shots behind the arc. He finished with a career-high 11 points.
""He hit them. But he can. That's what that scholarship is for, and playing defense and making good passes,"" head coach Bo Ryan said.
Tucker said he has expected Bohannon to break out for a while now.
""It's funny because you all are just seeing his come-out game for [the first time]—having a big contribution coming off the bench and scoring a lot of points, but we see it all the time in practice and I was waiting for it to come out,"" Tucker said after the game.
Tucker himself knocked down a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half to get over his 0-for-4 start, and from there on out he could not be stopped. The senior finished with 22 points, marking the seventh game in a row he has scored 20 or more points.
Tucker finished 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, and senior guard Kammron Taylor was 4-of-6 to finish with 18 of his own points.
""Against a team like that playing the way they were, you're going to take more outside shots,"" head coach Bo Ryan said. ""It's just natural. You're going to hit some and our guys did. Jason got it started there with the hot hand, then Kam and Tucker. Guys felt comfortable after that.""
Wisconsin, which struggled with its 3-point shooting early in the Big Ten season, has now shot at least 40 percent from beyond the arc in each of its last five games.
""We worked a lot in practice on shooting with [junior guard Michael Flowers] and Kam and everyone and its really starting to pay off now,"" Bohannon said. ""Hopefully it stays that way for the rest of the season.""
For Bohannon and the No. 3 Badgers, the rest of the season starts now with what is arguably the toughest stretch on Wisconsin's schedule. UW hits the road this week for two straight road games against Michigan State and Ohio State before returning home to play Michigan State again March 3.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin knows winning these last three games means winning the Big Ten.
""Our destiny is in our own hands and I thrive off that,"" Tucker said. ""This will tell the tale of this Wisconsin team this year. If we can battle through the adversity on the road, we've done it in the past and everything we do from here will add to our legacy.""
Wisconsin will have to ignore the hype already circulating in advance of Sunday's showdown in Columbus between Ohio State and UW. With Florida losing to Vanderbilt over the weekend, the nation will find out Monday whether that game will be between the country's top two teams.
""The main thing is that we don't want to jump too far ahead and say, ‘Well, we have Michigan State and Ohio State,'"" Tucker said. ""We want to take care of Michigan State, get that done, then we'll knock down Ohio State and that's how we are going to look at it.""
