Don’t let No. 15 Wisconsin’s (5-1 Big Ten, 16-3 overall) record fool you; the Badgers have yet to play a complete 40-minute game this season.
With roughly one-third of the Big Ten season now completed, the race for the conference title is starting to truly take shape.
While waiting in line for more than hour, junior forward Zach Bohannon decided to strike up a conversation with outgoing Wisconsin senator Herb Kohl.
Twice during a physical and occasionally chippy game, Wisconsin’s bench watched as one of their teammates was helped off the ice after a hard and questionably legal hit by a North Dakota player.
For the second night in a row, and continuing a theme of the season, the Badgers had a slow start coming out of the locker room in the first period.
Sophomore forward Ethan Happ and senior forward Nigel Hayes might have combined for 49 of the No. 17 Wisconsin Badgers’ (5-1 Big Ten, 16-3 overall) 78 points Saturday evening, but when the Badgers needed a basket most, it was the third member of Wisconsin’s big three, senior guard Bronson Koenig, who made the key play. Trailing by two points with less than a minute to play in overtime, Koenig curled around two pin-downs and elevated for a 3-pointer over Minnesota’s Nate Mason.
Top-ranked Wisconsin found themselves in a situation that they hadn’t faced much throughout the season when North Dakota arrived at LaBahn Arena Saturday afternoon: a physical game.
With just under 17 minutes to play in the Wisconsin Badgers’ 68-64 win over the Michigan Wolverines Tuesday night, senior forward Vitto Brown, in the midst of an excellent performance, dove to the ground to snag a loose ball. Shortly thereafter, he limped his way into the locker room to receive medical treatment.
With the final seconds of regulation ticking off the clock, Corbin McGuire set up in the slot for a one-timer.
In what was a night of back and forth play, as well as a night of comebacks, Wisconsin ultimately found itself with a nine-point loss when the final buzzer sounded. No. 16 Ohio State (6-1 Big Ten, 16-1 overall) outscored Wisconsin 12-8 in the first quarter and 29-11 in the third.
Fresh off a home sweep of St. Cloud State, No. 1 Wisconsin (15-2-1 WCHA, 20-2-1 overall) looks to continue to flex its high-powered offense against North Dakota (9-5-4, 12-7-5). The Badgers outscored St. Cloud State, No. 1 Wisconsin (15-2-1 WCHA, 20-2-1 overall) looks to continue to flex its high-powered offense against North Dakota (9-5-4, 12-7-5).
Just one season ago, Minnesota traveled to the Kohl Center and easily won two games against Wisconsin, including a 9-2 beat down of a Badgers team that looked dejected with little confidence.
In this week's episode, men's basketball beat writers Ben Pickman and Thomas Valtin-Erwin, as well as columnist Zach Rastall, discuss the current state of Badger hoops.
After falling to 0-4 in Big Ten play over winter break, the Badgers had a chance to salvage their sinking ship of a Big Ten record against a weak program.
Jordan Hill spent the majority of Monday’s practice wearing a blue pinnie. The junior point guard, who saw his minutes diminish over the first half of UW’s season, was running Wisconsin’s scout team.
Senior guard Bronson Koenig scored a team-high 16 points, including 12 in the game’s final six minutes, to lead the Badgers in what turned out to be Wisconsin’s most enthused game of the season.
Senior forward Nigel Hayes and the rest of No. 17 Wisconsin’s (4-1 Big Ten, 14-3 overall) starters spent a large portion of Monday afternoon’s practice competing against players in navy blue jerseys.
For the Wisconsin football team, the winter break was bittersweet. There was plenty of good to finish the season, but also several key departures, which could become issues in future years. To begin with the good, Wisconsin began the New Year by winning its first BCS/New Year’s Six bowl game since Jan.
As Badger students headed home for winter break in late December, No. 18 Wisconsin headed into conference play seeking a 16th-consecutive top four finish in the Big Ten. The Badgers began with a tune-up game at the Kohl Center against a new-look Rutgers team that hasn’t posted a winning season in 10 years.
For Wisconsin, the winter break started in the worst way possible. Starting in goal for the Canadian national team in a game against the United States on December 17, senior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens faced up to a slap shot from Team USA's Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson.
Solutions by The State News
