Looking for their first road win in conference play, Wisconsin came to Evanston on a mission, one they achieved with a dominant 78-46 victory.
Coming off of a tough home win over Indiana, the Badgers came out firing against Northwestern (3-5 Big Ten, 13-6 overall), shooting 62 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 45-26 halftime lead.
Despite holding senior forward Jon Leuer to just two first half points, Northwestern's 1-3-1 zone defense allowed the Badgers to get open jumpers on nearly every possession, jumpers that Wisconsin was able to knock down.
Although Leuer put up 17 second half points to lead the scoring with 19 for the game, the highlight of the victory was freshman guard Josh Gasser's triple-double, the first in school history.
""I never once expected that would ever happen,"" Gasser said after the history-making performance. ""So, for that to happen in a game that we won, it's that much better.""
Starting his second straight game, Gasser got off to a hot start, knocking down an early three-point field goal and finishing the opening half with 10 points, four rebounds and seven assists.
As he has done all year, the freshman was a power on the boards, racking up eight more rebounds in the second half to finish the game with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
The feat was made all the more special by the fact that it was done in front of a friendly crowd.
""We had a couple of buses that came down and about 100 people from Port Washington, Wis., sitting up there,"" Gasser said. ""To do it in front of them made it that much better.""
The game was tight early on as both teams traded buckets until a 9-0 Badger run midway through the opening half turned a 17-16 game into a double-digit UW lead.
From there, Northwestern (3-5 Big Ten, 13-6 overall) quickly found themselves being blown out at home. Junior forward John Shurna, the Big Ten's third leading scorer, kept the Wildcats in it for a while, but faded as his 13 point performance turned out to not be nearly enough in a game that saw both teams unload their benches for the majority of the last 10 minutes of play.
As the lead grew, the Wildcats found their small size to be a serious disadvantage. Wisconsin dominated the glass en route to a 32-18 rebound advantage that seemed to make a home court comeback impossible.
Although Gasser's triple-double was the headline, the Badger win was a team effort as five players finished the game in double-digits, with sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz adding a 10-point, three rebound boost in 24 minutes off the bench.
With the next five days off, the Badgers will have time to prepare for the final leg of a two game road trip scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Penn State.
With the Nittany Lions having already knocked off Michigan State and Illinois in State College, this matchup will certainly be a test this Badgers team cannot make the mistake of overlooking if they want to get themselves back home unscathed.
