Big Ten title all theirs
Win gives Badgers sole possession of championship
— With sixth-ranked Wisconsin just 58.9 seconds away from another victory over rival Minnesota, the unmistakable chant cascaded down from the upper deck of The Barn, from hundreds of fans wearing red:
Big Ten champs. Big Ten champs. Big Ten champs.
“I got chills down my spine,” fifth-year senior guard Josh Gasser said, “trying to let it all sink in.”
Seconds later, UW’s fourth Big Ten Conference title under Bo Ryan was in the books.
With the frontcourt of Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes leading the way, UW led by as many as 20 points in the opening half, withstood a series of runs and rolled over the Gophers, 76-63, in front of a crowd of 14,625 Thursday night to clinch the outright league title.
The victory came four days after the Badgers took down visiting Michigan State to clinch a share of the title.
“It felt great on Sunday, to have it on senior night and to know you at least got a share of it,” Gasser said. “But I think this one feels a little better. It just feels great to know that in terms of the regular season we’re the class of the Big Ten. No one else is there with us.
“We’re going to enjoy this one and hopefully we can get another Big Ten (tournament) championship.”
UW (27-3, 15-2 Big Ten) clinched the title heading into the regular-season finale Sunday at Ohio State. Maryland (25-5, 13-4), which defeated UW in the teams’ lone meeting, will finish second.
“I got chills down my spine trying to let it all sink in.”
Josh Gasser, senior guard
The Badgers also secured the No. 1 seeding for the league tournament, set for March 11-15 at the United Center in Chicago. UW opens at 11 a.m. March 13 against an opponent to be determined.
Minnesota, which had a two-game home winning streak against UW, slipped to 6-11 in the league and 17-13 overall.
“Not that I’ve watched everybody, but that’s about as impressive of a team as I’ve seen,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, now 1-4 against UW. “You gotta give them a lot of credit. They were a really, really hard matchup.”
Kaminsky and Dekker combined for 30 points in the first half when UW hit 7 of 10 three-pointers (70%) and 17 of 27 shots overall (63.0%) and eventually settled for a 44-34 lead at the break.
Kaminsky had 16 points, five assists and three rebounds in the first half and finished with 25 points, six rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block in 39- plus minutes. He hit 10 of 15 shots, including 2 of 4 threepointers.
“He does so much for us,” Dekker said. “You don’t see 7-footers getting those numbers like that.”
Dekker had 14 points and four rebounds in the half and finished with 20 points and six rebounds. He hit 7 of 14 shots.
Hayes added 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Bronson Koenig added eight points and Gasser fashioned an impressive overall stat line.
He hit all three of his fieldgoal attempts, including 2 three-pointers, and finished with eight points, four rebounds, five assists, two blocks and one steal in 38 minutes.
He also helped hold senior guard Andre Hollins to 2-of-9 shooting and five points. Hollins, who entered the night leading Minnesota in scoring at 14.7 points per game, scored a combined seven points in two games against UW this season and hit just 3 of 17 shots.
Led by Kaminsky, UW hit 8 of its first 10 field-goal attempts, including 4 of 4 from three-point range, to build a 22-10 lead with 11 minutes, 28 seconds left in the half.
The lead reached 36-16 with 6:26 left as Dekker scored seven points and Kaminsky added five in a 14-6 run.
Minnesota closed to within 10 by halftime and within six early in the second half on a basket by freshman guard Nate Mason (15 points).
Ryan’s players never lost their composure and eventually pushed the lead back to 16 points.
“Building that big a lead on the road is huge because you’re playing in the driver’s seat the rest of the game,” Kaminsky said. “Every time they made a run it felt like we made a big play and neutralized them.”
The cheers from hundreds of red-clad UW fans told the story.
“To win it in a rivalry game, on Minnesota’s court, with so many of our own fans here was pretty special,” Kaminsky said. “We could hear them the whole game.”