A mediocre first half may have had some fans worried, but a big second half squashed any concerns over a repeat performance of the Western Illinois game at the Kohl Center Wednesday night.
Instead, the Wisconsin Badgers (4-2) rolled to a 85-67 victory over Prairie View A&M (0-5) to stay on track heading into a pivotal portion of their nonconference schedule.
Led by 16 points from junior guard Bronson Koenig and a career-high 14 courtesy of redshirt Zak Showalter, a total of six Badgers finished with double-digit scoring. Redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, freshman forward Charlie Thomas added 12 points and six rebounds, junior forward Vitto Brown chipped in 11 points and junior forward Nigel Hayes recorded 10 points and seven assists for UW.
Wisconsin seized control of the game for much of the first half, leading by as much as 13 with 4:21 remaining. But the Panthers answered right back, finishing the half on a 13-6 run to cut the deficit to 42-36 heading into the locker room.
Though the Prairie View A&M offense has been subpar all year (the Panthers came into the game shooting 37.7 percent from the field, including a 22.6 percent mark from 3-point range), they had no problems in the first half.
The Panthers shot 59.1 percent as team during the game’s first 20 minutes, which included them going 7-9 from beyond the arc, to help offset their 14 turnovers in the first half.
The start of the second half remained close, and Prairie View A&M pulled within two with 16:54 to play. But just when it looked like Wisconsin might be stuck in another dogfight with an inferior opponent in Madison, the Badgers rose to the occasion.
A 3-pointer by Koenig on the ensuing possession got the ball rolling for Bo Ryan’s squad, and they never looked back.
The UW offense began firing on all cylinders and the Panthers were unable to keep up the torrid pace that they had set in the first half. As a result, Wisconsin pulled away, outscoring Prairie View A&M 41-25 the rest of the way.
The Panthers did themselves no favors with sloppy play, accruing 27 fouls and 19 turnovers over the course of the game. The result: The Badgers held a 29-11 edge in points off turnovers and went 21-26 from the free-throw line.
After Sunday’s thrilling victory over VCU, it was a much-needed convincing home win for Wisconsin before it heads out for a huge two-game road trip.
The Badgers will take on No. 7 Oklahoma Sunday at 1:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with Syracuse next Wednesday night at 6:15 p.m. as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
