For as bad as things have been, the Wisconsin men's basketball team (4-6 Big Ten, 13-9 overall) picked up a crucial and convincing 63-50 win against No. 23 Illinois (6-4, 18-5) in what is probably the last chance for a turnaround in their season. Without question, it was the double-digit scoring contributions from senior forward Marcus Landry and sophomore forward Jon Leuer, as well as the white-hot 3-point shooting from junior guard Jason Bohannon, that powered the Badgers to their first victory in nearly a month.
They made shots,"" Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. ""Bohannon made shots, and that [was] the big difference. Then it opens it up a little bit inside for Leuer and Landry. It was one of those nights that I guess we had no answers.""
The night started on a low note, as the Illini jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead just under four minutes into the game. Illinois sophomore guard Demetri McCamey showed early signs of repeating the 25-point performance he had the last time he faced Wisconsin when he sank a jumper and a 3-point shot in two of his team's first four possessions. But on the next possession, Bohannon was fed the ball on a squeeze play and knocked down his first 3-point attempt of the game to start a 10-2 Wisconsin run that featured two inside shots from Leuer and another 3-pointer from Bohannon.
Illinois would nearly catch up in the ensuing minutes, but Wisconsin refused to relinquish the lead. A foul by senior forward Kevin Gullikson led to two made free throws by Illinois sophomore guard Alex Legion to make the score 12-11, but solid offensive play allowed Wisconsin to pull away and not look back. Before the half, Wisconsin tallied four offensive boards - three by Landry - and eight assists and had Leuer, Landry and Bohannon all in double-digit scoring totals. Bohannon was 5-of-6 from the field including a perfect 5-of-5 from behind the arc and was the biggest factor in the 37-25 halftime lead.
""Having a shooter like Jason on the outside is going to free up some stuff on the inside because they have to close up on him hard,"" Leuer said. ""You can just feel the energy any time he gets an open shot. The whole building stands up. We look to J-Bo to knock those shots down.""
The second half opened up with a 3-point connection from senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft, and the Badgers showed that they were not going to let up after the break. Bohannon hit his sixth consecutive 3-point shot with 17:02 on the clock to give Wisconsin a 44-27 advantage and the largest lead the team would have all night.
Shortly thereafter, Bohannon nabbed a midcourt steal off Illinois sophomore forward Mike Davis and attempted a rare dunk that ended up bouncing out of the rim and landing in the hands of Davis below. The miss marked the end of Bohannon's field scoring for the night, as he would go 0-for-2 the rest of the night, including his lone miss from 3-point range all night. His .857 3-point percentage was a Kohl Center record and is second best in Wisconsin basketball history for a single game.
Meanwhile, as Bohannon was drawing attention with his outside game, Landry and Leuer stacked up impressive games on the inside as well. Wisconsin's big men had 31 combined points and six rebounds apiece. Despite being the third-highest scorer on the Badger sideline for the night, Leuer's five points, three rebounds and one block in the second half prevented the Badgers from experiencing another late-game meltdown.
""Jon played well tonight,"" UW head coach Bo Ryan said. ""[We've] got a lot more games to play, but he did a good job. We'll find some things in the tape that he can work on, [but] he got some good reps.""
From here, the Badgers will look to push their winning streak to two games as they head to Penn State (6-4, 17-6) Sunday. The Nittany Lions are having a solid conference season, tallying wins against Purdue and Michigan State, though they lost to Michigan Thursday and have already been beaten once by Wisconsin. Tipoff for the game is slated for 2 p.m. and will be aired on the Big Ten Network.
