Wisconsin (6-6 Big Ten, 15-9 overall) won its third straight game and senior forward Marcus Landry scored his 1,000th career point as the Badgers blew out the Iowa Hawkeyes by a score of 69-52.
The Badgers had several leads early in the first half but had trouble pulling away, as the game was tied at 14 with nine minutes to go in the first period.
Then Wisconsin rattled off nine unanswered points. The Hawkeyes cut the deficit to three with two-and-a-half minutes to go in the half, but then Wisconsin closed on a 7-0 run to take a 36-24 lead into halftime. Senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft said this run was crucial for creating momentum for the rest of the game.
It gets us so fired up to get out there in the second half, we have to calm ourselves down,"" Krabbenhoft said. ""In the locker room we were all really excited about how we ended it. It was great momentum, and the crowd really got into it. That's as loud as it got all year, and it was nice to see that.""
In the second half, the Badgers were in control of the game's pace, not letting the deficit dip below 12 and cruising along for the win.
About seven minutes into the second half, Landry made a strong move to the basket, hit a turnaround jumper and got fouled, giving him 1,000 career points at UW. Landry is just the 33rd player in school history to accomplish the feat. Although Landry is proud of this milestone, he also knows it will probably hold much more significance after his career at Wisconsin is over.
""Even to be mentioned on the same list as those guys is a great accomplishment,"" Landry said. ""It does mean a lot to me; probably not as much as it will down the road, especially since we still have a lot more games to play. Maybe when I'm a little older I'll be able to look back and get a feeling of what it really means.""
The Hawkeyes were without their leading rebounder, senior forward Cyrus Tate, and it showed as Wisconsin dominated Iowa on the glass throughout the game. The Badgers out-rebounded the Hawkeyes 27-21, including a 10-5 advantage on the offensive end, resulting in 18 second-chance points. Head coach Bo Ryan was pleased with his team's rebounding effort.
""We always talk about it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight of the dog,"" Ryan said. ""I thought our guys looked pretty scrappy as far as how they went to the glass. They stayed active. They got their hands up. I don't think it's necessarily size that was the difference, but it was positioning.""
For the third consecutive game, Wisconsin's defense had a crucial impact on the team's victory. The Badgers scored 29 points off 14 Hawkeye turnovers.
Krabbenhoft led the Badgers and tied his own season high with 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Junior guard Trevon Hughes broke out of an offensive slump, scoring 14 points and dishing out a career-high six assists.
Ryan was impressed with Hughes' all-around performance.
""You can take every category and [Hughes] worked hard at it,"" Ryan said. ""He might have been exposed on one thing or another, but if you take every possession and you look at his positioning and where he's steering guys, what he's doing defensively, what he's doing offensively, getting guys into position, he played a pretty good game obviously.""
The Badgers followed their six-game losing streak with three straight wins, beating each opponent by 10 points or more. Krabbenhoft was proud of his team's ability to overcome these difficult times with better play.
""We're disappointed in some of the outcomes, but we've put that behind us,"" Krabbenhoft said. ""Coach does a great job of keeping us focused on what's next. We've got to forget about the past and learn from it, and we've done a great job of that.""
