Five Takeaways from No.13 Wisconsin's 66-61 Win at Rutgers

The University of Wisconsin has conquered the road in the Big Ten, giving them the right to play for a Big Ten championship in front of its home fans Tuesday night.

Sweeping its two-game road trip with a 66-61 victory over Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., Saturday, the Badgers (23-5, 14-4 Big Ten) finished the season 8-2 in league road games, 3-0 against teams who previously beat them earlier in the season and made the clutch plays late to win another two-possession game.

Most importantly, thanks to the standout first half from Brad Davison and Chucky Hepburn, and sophomore Johnny Davis doing what All-American players do in the second half, the Badgers need to win one of their final two games to earn a share of the 2021-22 Big Ten championship.

Bet you didn’t think that was going to happen at the beginning of November.

Here are my five takeaways from Wisconsin’s road triumph.

A team is only going to silence a national player of the year for so long.

Rutgers succeed once in slowing Wisconsin’s Davis, limiting him to 11 points on 10 shots two weeks ago. The Scarlet Knights even managed to frustrate the sophomore in the first half (four points on 2-for-9). But with 19 NBA scouts in attendance, Davis wasn’t going to let the Scarlet Knights continue to get the better of him.

Davis scored 15 points in the second half and do most of it simply by attacking. He hit a jumper on UW’s first second-half possession, converted a second-chance layup after Rutgers tied the game, and hunted out a three-pointer two possessions later. His shooting percentage wasn’t great (4-for-10) but he drew fouls. Davis was 6-for-7 from the line in the second half.

In the loss to Rutgers two weeks ago, Davis only attempted one shot over the final five minutes and committed three turnovers. He attempted two Saturday but went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and committed one turnover in his 35 minutes on the court.

Finishing with 19 points, Davis is averaging 22.4 points away from home this season, the highest scoring average among all major conference players.

Much like Davis’s redemption, Wisconsin’s whole roster can fly home feeling better about its ability to close the door down the stretch after leaving it wide open previously. In Madison, UW went up 60-59 with 4:49 remaining but didn’t score again until 30 seconds remained, a stretch of eight empty possessions that included four turnovers and no offensive rebounds.

A Rutgers run helped erase an 11-point deficit within the first eight minutes of the second half. Four times the Scarlet Knights either tied the game or took a one-possession lead, and each time the Badgers took the lead back on the next possession.

Twice it came off the hands of Davis attacking the paint for a layup, but Steven Crowl put UW back in front, 52-50, with a 3-pointer with 6:42 remaining. Tyler Wahl inched UW ahead by one two possessions later by drawing a foul when he attacked the low post. UW was outscored 36-20 in the paint, but the number is misleading with all the post fouls the Badgers drew that resulted in free throw opportunities.

Once Davis countered Geo Baker’s layup with one of his own, putting the Badgers up 56-55 with 5:39 to go, UW’s defense held Rutgers to only six points on its final 10 possessions.

Since dropping a 63-58 decision to Providence in the third game of the season, the Badgers have won 14 consecutive games decided by two possessions or less. That is the longest streak in Div. 1 since the 3-point line was added in 1986.

"That’s a crazy stat,” Davis said “I can’t really explain it. It definitely ain’t luck though … definitely not luck. People can say it’s luck but it’s not luck. Luck goes 50-50. We are 14-1 in those games.”

Wisconsin showed on the road Wednesday that it can pull away down the stretch without its best player on the floor for the final 2:35. Saturday, the Badgers showed they can build a double-digit lead on the road against an NCAA Tournament bubble team with their star slowed by fouls and missed baskets, especially when senior guard Brad Davison is locked in.

Davison missed his first two shots but a 3-pointer at 14:24 seemed to get him locked in. When he was subbed back in for the last 11:09, Davison was 3-for-5 from the field to enter halftime with a game-high 11 points. A sign of his confidence was hitting a 3-pointer a handful of steps beyond the arc from straight away, giving UW its second double-digit lead at 30-20.

Entering the game 19-for-72 over his last seven games (26.4), including 10-for-49 (20.4) from 3-point range, Davison finished with 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting and 4-for-8 from the field, making his eighth game with at least four 3-pointers and his first since January 30. He added four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Even with the slow shooting in February, Davison is shooting 36.0 percent from 3-point range in Big Ten play.

Hepburn was on such an impressive turnover-less streak (four combined turnovers in his last six games (197 minutes)) that seeing him commit two in the first 6:06 of game time was unusual. He finished with three turnovers for the first time since January 30, but he made up for the mistakes in almost every other category.

Helping Davison carry the offense in the first half, Hepburn scored 10 points and finished with 13 – his most since the victory at Nebraska. His point production showed how high his scoring potential is in the years to come. He delivered a hesitation layup against center Clifford Omoruyi, didn’t hesitate on an open 3-pointer off a feed from Davis in the low post, and hit a baseline jumper after driving against Geo Baker before stopping to create some space.

He only made one of his four shots in the second half but it was a big one, a no-hesitation 3-pointer from Davison from the top of the key. That boosted UW's lead to four, 59-55, with 4:43 remaining.

Hepburn also finished with five assists, his best mark in a Big Ten game, two steals, and two rebounds. All his production led UW to outscore Rutgers by 13 when he was on the floor, the best on the team.

The Badgers are off to their best start under Greg Gard, who is the only Big Ten coach to have led his program to at least 14 Big Ten wins in three of the last four seasons. The victory guaranteed a couple of important things for Wisconsin.

One, the Badgers are guaranteed a top-four finish in the Big Ten for the fifth time in seven seasons under Gard (and for the 19th time since 2002), meaning the Badgers will have a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament (March 9-13 in Indianapolis). Two, Wisconsin can win a share of the Big Ten title if it wins either of its final two home games (Tuesday vs. Purdue, Sunday vs. Nebraska).

Win them both, the Badgers are outright conference champions for the first time since 2015. That season ended with an appearance in the national championship game.

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