The No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 88-72 Saturday at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin won their last three games heading into this matchup, including their last 11-point victory over Iowa on Jan. 2 at the Kohl Center.
Nebraska looked significantly smaller than Wisconsin from the start, which helped the Badgers establish their paint presence early and opened the lane for Wisconsin forward Tyler Wahl to get to the basket throughout the game. Wahl shot 60% from the field and finished the game with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds.
Connor Essegian came in for Wisconsin eight minutes into the game. Essegian instantly made an impact on the court with his 3-point shooting. He made two 3-point shots in his first three minutes in the game on his way to a total of four 3-point shots in the 12 minutes he played. This matchup was the second time in the last five games Essegian played at least double-digit minutes for a game.
The Badgers rolled into halftime with a 13-point lead, with Wisconsin’s bench outscoring the Cornhuskers bench by 16 points.
The only Nebraska player who had it going was Cornhuskers guard Keisei Tominaga, who finished the first half with 12 points and only one missed shot. He went on to finish the game with a team-high 17 points.
The Badgers kept their 3-point barrage going in the second half and finished the game with 50% shooting from the 3-point arc. Wisconsin sailed for the entirety of the second half and kept the lead in the double digits for the rest of the game.
In a postgame press conference, Essegian said the adversity he faced this season made him play the way he did.
“[I was] just kind of taking the adversity that came my way — starting with the back injury and all that — and just kind of taking it head-on and going at it and taking it to heart," Essegian said.
The Badgers move to 11-3 overall on the season and 3-0 in Big Ten conference play with their next game coming Wednesday against Ohio State in Columbus.
