No need to be pictureperfect
Badgers make key plays to get victory over rival
MINNEAPOLIS – When the calendar turns to February, and you’re on the road, playing your border rival, you couldn’t care less about style points. Just win, baby.
That is the formula Wisconsin followed Wednesday night at Williams Arena against rival Minnesota.
The Badgers missed a high number of shots in the lane and forced a handful of shots early in the possession but made several key plays down the stretch to prevail, 56-51.
“Whether we’ve played them before or haven’t, every game is big,” UW guard Brad Davison said before the game, referring to UW’s 59-52 loss in the teams’ first meeting. “But especially when you lose the first time around. You have an extra chip on your shoulder.
“We have something to prove.” And prove it they did.
The Badgers (17-6, 9-3 Big Ten) continued their midseason push toward the top of the league by extending their winning streak to six games.
They moved into a tie for third place with Michigan State (18-5, 9-3), within one-half game of second-place Purdue (16-6, 9-2) and within one game of firstplace Michigan (21-2, 10-2).
Next up for UW, which has won seven of its last eight Big Ten road games, is a trip to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines
on Saturday.
Minnesota (16-7, 6-6) missed a chance to sweep UW for the first time since the 2008-’09 season.
Ethan Happ, who tends to start slowly on offense, missed 2 of 8 shots in the first half. He hit 4 of 5 shots after halftime, however, and finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
Guards Brad Davison and D’Mitrik Trice, averaging a combined 23.4 points per game in league play, combine for 19 Wednesday.
Trice hit a huge three-pointer to give UW a 52-46 lead with 1 minute 44 seconds left and finished with nine points, two assists and zero turnovers.
Davison hit just 1 of 5 three-pointers and 2 of 12 shots overall but hit 5 of 6 free throws, including two with 12.1 seconds left, and finished with 10 points.
Nate Reuvers, who had battled foul trouble in each of the three previous games, hurt Minnesota on both ends of the floor and finished with nine points, eight rebounds and seven blocks.
Brevin Pritzl (seven points, three rebounds) and Khalil Iverson (six points on 3-for-3 shooting) were solid.
Guard Amir Coffey, who carried the Gophers with 21 points and six rebounds in the victory in Madison, hit just 3 of 10 shots Wednesday and finished with eight points.
Forward Jordan Murphy, averaging a double-double (14.9 ppg, 11.8 rpg), contributed 16 points and 19 rebounds. Freshman Daniel Oturu added 12 and 11.
The Gophers, who hit 6 of 14 threepointers in the victory in Madison, entered Wednesday shooting 31.1 percent from three-point range. They hit just 1 of 13 three-pointers and 20 of 57 shots overall.
UW hit just 3 of 15 shots at the rim and 9 of 32 shots overall in the first 20 minutes.
The Gophers were better overall at 38.5 percent (10 of 26) but they were just 1 of 6 from three-point range and had six turnovers.
UW led by five points four times – at 8-3, 10-5, 14-9 and 24-19 – but too many misses in the lane prevented the Badgers from extending the lead to double digits.
The Gophers pulled into a 19-19 tie on Gabe Kalscheur’s steal and lay-in with 5:07 left in the half.
Trice answered with a three-pointer and Happ scored inside to push the lead to 24-19 with 1:42 left.
Minnesota got a jumper from Kalscheur and UW’s final two possessions of the half ended with a shotclock violation and a missed threepointer by Davison.
UW finally pushed the lead past five points – at 28-21 on a basket by Happ at 30-23 on a dunk by Iverson off a feed from Happ and at 32-25 on a basket by Happ.
When Trice buried a three-pointer, after Kobe King hustled to track down a long rebound after a missed threepointer by Trice, UW’s lead was 35-27 with 12:59 left.
With points difficult to come by for both teams, Pritzl hit two free throws and Happ added 1 of 2 for a 48-41 lead with 4:09 left.
Dupree McBrayer continued the parade to the free-throw line with 2:41 left but he, too, made just 1 of 2 attempts.
After a miss by Davison, Murphy was fouled by Happ during a scramble for a loose ball. He hit both attempts and the lead was 49-46 with 2:11 left.
Trice, 2 of 6 from three-point range to that point, drilled a bomb from the right wing to give UW a 52-46 lead with 1:44 left and Davison and Pritzl hit two free throws apiece to keep UW in the lead.
“You know there’s no get-well game,” UW coach Greg Gard said before the game. “Everybody talks about the tough stretch that we’re in.”