The UW men's basketball team topped Georgia 68-49 Saturday at the Kohl Center, but like their meeting a year ago in Athens, Ga., the Bulldogs made it closer than the scoreboard indicated.
Trailing by nine at halftime, the Badgers (5-0) ripped off an 11-0 run over the first four minutes of the second half to take a 34-32 lead. Sophomore guard Trevon Hughes - who finished with a game-high 18 points - scored seven on the run.
It was the turnaround Hughes and the Badgers needed. The first-year starter struggled in the first half, shooting only 2-of-11 and only 1-for-7 from beyond the arc.
I was settling,"" Hughes said. ""Especially when they went to that zone. We just got lazy and kept on shooting threes. That's not my game. I got to get into the hole and distribute the ball.""
Hughes made the adjustment in the second half and UW responded with the big run.
Georgia stayed with Wisconsin, however, maintaining the lead for much of the second half. UW's defense proved to be too much, though, holding the Bulldogs to just 17 second-half points. Wisconsin held a slim 46-45 lead with just 8:55 to go, but went on a huge 22-4 run to the close the game that in the end looked like a blowout.
""To almost double what we had in the first half and then to hold them to almost half of what they scored in the first half, that's what you have to look at and say that's what your guys did on the fly,"" head coach Bo Ryan said.
Once again, the guard tandem of Hughes and senior guard Michael Flowers dominated defensively. The two switched off guarding Georgia senior guard Sundiata Gaines for most of the night and held the Bulldogs' top scorer to just six points on 3-of-15 shooting. Gaines also went 0-for-6 behind the 3-point arc. Hughes credited the early second-half run with helping the team defensively.
""[The momentum] changed our defensive play on the other end,"" Hughes said. ""It just made the whole team come together. You know, that's the strong part of our game - our defense. And if that's not working then I don't know where else we are going. We are a good defensive team and that's what we want to be.""
It was a tale of two different halves for Flowers as well. The senior tallied only five points in the first half while converting only one field goal. In the second half he shot 4-for-8 while finishing with 10 rebounds for his first double-double of his collegiate career. Six of those rebounds came during UW's final 22-4 run.
""What stands out to me is the 10 rebounds,"" junior guard Joe Krabbenhoft said about Flowers. ""Mike is such a dynamic scorer. He's going to find ways to get the ball in the hoop, but 10 rebounds from a guy who is undersized and underweight compared to some of those guys from Georgia. Mike is fearless. There were a couple rebounds where I was trying to block my guy out and I would just see Mike flying in there and that inspires the team. When we see him doing that we just want to keep playing harder to try and match his intensity and he did a great job of lifting us up today like always.""
The Badgers will now turn their attention to Duke. The Blue Devils (6-0) won the Maui Invitational last week and host Wisconsin Tuesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
