Badgers able to overcome rough stretches
MADISON – Wisconsin, not Minnesota, looked early on like the team that was coming off an extended layoff.
The offensive execution for much of the first half was brutal.
The Badgers then played the entire second half without senior forward Tyler Wahl, who suffered an apparent right-ankle injury early in the game and played a season-low 8 minutes 50 seconds.
Yet with Steven Crowl, Chucky Hepburn and Connor Essegian providing just enough scoring, Max Klesmit providing stellar defense for most of the game and Hepburn stealing the ball on Minnesota’s final possession, the 15thranked Badgers held on for a 63-60 victory Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
“As I told them in the locker room,” UW coach Greg Gard said, “good teams find a way when you’re not clicking on all cylinders and sputtering at times.
“Good teams dig down and find a way to get it done.”
The Badgers (11-2, 3-0 Big Ten) won their first three league games for the first time since the 2014-2015 season and, although it is early, moved into sole possession of first place in the league. They improved to 6-2 this season in games decided by five points or fewer.
Minnesota, which finished 4-16 in the Big Ten last season, dropped to 0-3 in the league and 6-7 overall.
The Badgers led for the final 22:34 of the game, built their lead to 47-32 with 15:27 left but gave up too many offensive rebounds and needed the late steal from Hepburn to secure the victory.
After Crowl missed the first of bonus free throws with 10.2 seconds left and UW clinging to the 63-60 lead, guard Ta’Lon Cooper brought up ball into the frontcourt on the right side and waited for a screen.
With Gard calling for a foul, Hepburn decided to be more aggressive and went for the ball. He stripped Cooper with 3.4 seconds left, in front of the Minnesota bench, and passed ahead to Carter Gilmore, who dribbled out the final seconds.
“Coach Gard was yelling foul,” said Hepburn, who recorded five steals to push his team-leading total to 25. “It’s one of those where you can either steal it or foul. I stole the ball.”
The turnover was the sixth for Cooper and a season-high 20th for the Gophers. They entered the night averaging 13.4 turnovers per game.
“We just got a little loose with the ball and had one of the turnovers that in league play you just can’t have,” Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said of the final possession. “It is such a possession type game in this league and you’ve got to value the ball.
“For us, you have 20 turnovers, you put (yourself) in a really tough spot to pull it out, especially on the road.
“Against a top-25 team on the road, you can’t do that.”
Crowl scored 17 points, including 13 in the second half, and grabbed five rebounds for UW, which scored 21 points off the Gophers’ turnovers.
Hepburn hit a crucial basket with 1:08 left to give UW a 63-56 lead finished with 16 points, five steals, four assists and two rebounds.
Essegian scored 8 of his 11 points in the opening half when UW was struggling to score.
Jordan Davis banked in a threepointer with 8:01 left in the game to give UW a 57-53 lead and contributed seven points and eight rebounds. Klesmit added five points, three steals, three assists and a blocked shot and played terrific defense on Jamison Battle.
Wahl, averaging 14.1 points and 6.8 rebounds, hit just 1 of 5 shots and finished with two points and two rebounds. With Wahl out, Gilmore (two points, one assist) played a season-high 29:53 and Markus Ilver (three points, two rebounds) played a season-high 10:52.
“That is one of our key guys, one of our best players,” Hepburn said of Wahl. “When he goes down we know somebody else has to step up.”
Forwards Dawson Garcia (14.3 ppg) and Battle (12.9 ppg) combined to hit just 4 of 18 shots in the opening half and finished a combined 10 of 28. Garcia finished with 14 points and Battle, guarded most of the night by Klesmit, added 13.
Battle hit just 2 of 7 three-pointers -both makes came with Klesmit on the bench in foul trouble -- and 5 of 15 shots overall.
“Max did really well on Battle tonight,” Hepburn said. “I was really impressed with him. Battle is 6-6 or 6-7 and has the height advantage. But Max is a dog and that is what I love about him. I’ve always said he has Brad Davison in him and you saw that tonight.”
Cooper, a 52.9% three-point shooter, hit 2 of 2 three-pointers and 7 of 15 shots overall and led the Gophers with 16 points.
Gard was not happy to see Minnesota pull within 54-53 after trailing by 15 points.
He was particularly disturbed to see UW contribute to Minnesota’s comeback by twice failing to block out on a missed free throw and surrendering 11 offensive rebounds and 12 secondchance points.
“Two free-throw block-outs got them going,” he said. “We were too passive on Jamison Battle and he got a three. And then he gets comfortable and gets another one.
“So it is just those little things that start to snowball…Little plays like that can give a team momentum and confidence.
“It is good learning when you can get through a game when you have those type of things happen and still come out on the left-hand side.”