With Johnny Davis catching fire down the stretch in the second half, Michigan State gave a hard tug on Superman’s cape to try and slow the budding All-American down. Evidently, a wardrobe change and a new number weren’t the kryptonite that would stop another masterful performance.

Forced to switch jersey numbers for the final 3 minutes, 31 seconds, Davis didn’t cool off on his way to a game-high 25 points – his seventh 25+ point game of the season – to lead No.14 Wisconsin to a 70-62 victory over No.17 Michigan State at the Breslin Center.

It’s another chapter on Davis’s stunning resume, right next to his 37 points at No.3 Purdue and his 30 points against No.12 Houston, a performance that led the Badgers (19-4, 10-3 Big Ten) to win at the Breslin Center in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2004. However, don't expect Davis to ditch his No.1 for the new No.51 in the future.

"Fifty-one's a little tight," Davis joked.

Thanks to Purdue’s 84-68 home victory over Illinois, the Badgers are back in first place in the Big Ten with the Boilermakers and the Illini.

Here are my five takeaways from another huge road triumph.

When the two schools met last month, Michigan State made sure to always send help defense at Davis and physically challenge the sophomore. The result was a 3-for-13 start, getting him visibly frustrated, and seeing him take 20 shots to get to his 25 points.

Davis again finished with 25 points, but he was a more economic 8-for-11 from the field and delivered haymakers when he needed to in the second half in the rematch.

“I thought he was patient,” head coach Greg Gard said. “He let the game come to him. He’s talked about that … He picked and chose his spots. Obviously down the stretch, the ball was in his hands a fair amount, and he made a lot of plays.”

Did he ever. Four times Davis scored when Michigan State was within one possession, three of those instances pushing the lead to five points.

“During that time of the game is when I need the ball in my hands,” Davis said. “I think I am the best option on the team to be able to make a play for myself or somebody else.”

There were some who thought the sky was falling over the last two games when Davis was just 7-for-32 from the field, including 2-for-13 and four points against Penn State. Gard was quick to point out that Davis had 15 rebounds at Illinois and nine against the Nittany Lions, and the sophomore’s ability to create paid dividends again when he was able to distribute the ball after drawing attention.

With four other players scoring at least six points, Michigan State couldn’t focus only on Davis, forcing them to extend the defense and allow him to get to his spots in crunch time.

“Their defense was just everybody else sagging off in the lane, waiting for me to drive,” Davis said. “I would drive, if I didn’t have a shot, I would kick it to one of my teammates. They did a nice job knocking down shots tonight.”

America found out how valuable Tyler Wahl is to Wisconsin Tuesday night.

Without the junior in the lineup in the Jan.21 meeting in Madison, Wisconsin’s defense was pummeled by Michigan State’s speed. The Badgers allowed a season-worst 86 points largely because UW’s transition defense was out of sync. Michigan State scored 21 transition points that helped them shoot 52.7 percent from the field.

With Wahl back in the lineup, and UW able to maintain its pace, the Spartans shot 32 percent in the first half, committed seven turnovers, and scored zero points in transition. Michigan State’s shooting picked up in the second half (14-for-28), but the tempo didn’t. The Spartans finished with only eight points on the fast break, one less than the Badgers did.

“That’s Michigan State’s game, making it a track meet almost,” Davis said. “Our game plan was sometimes to walk the ball up, run our offense through the whole entire shot clock to be able to slow them down and throw them off their game a little bit.”

Having the plan to control possessions and probe the defense, picking spots when to attack and when to reset the offense, the Badgers held the Spartans to misses on 14 of their first 17 shots, six offensive rebounds, six second-chance points and finished minus-1 on the glass compared to being outrebounded by 19 by the Spartans in Madison.

Wahl's five baskets came in the lane or around the basket, as he added five rebounds (one fewer than Davis), two assists, a block, and a steal. Wisconsin outscored Michigan State by 16 points in the 32 minutes Wahl was on the court.

“That’s exactly what (Wahl) brings to our team, that defensive presence and the ability to rebound,” Davis said. “Also, get the ball in the post and make plays for himself or other teammates.”

Sticking with its desired tempo required a steady hand, and few players have been steadier guiding the ship this season than true freshman Chucky Hepburn. He did a little bit of everything for the Badgers with multiple momentum-changing plays – from hitting a contested jumper late in the second half to push the lead to six, hitting clutch free throws in the final two minutes, and delivering two timely steals.

“I love playing with him,” Davis said. “The way he has adapted to the game. Coming in as a freshman, that’s not something you usually see in a player. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

The Spartans played with a better pace and shot with a better rhythm in the second half, but the Badgers never sputtered with Hepburn committing no turnovers in 30 minutes.

“He plays older than what it says in the program,” Gard said, pointing to Hepburn’s poise in the moment. “He understands how to play the position. He’s got a very good feel for it. He’s a natural at it. He knows when to pick his spots.”

Since promising his brother he would be more aggressive offensively, after going just 2-for-6 against the Spartans, Hepburn has attempted at least seven shots in four of the last five games and is shooting 46.2 percent (18-for-49). Tuesday, he closed the first half with a 3-pointer and hit a jumper on UW’s first possession to start the second half.

“He was aggressive at the right times,” Gard said. “He hit some big buckets.”

Cool, calm, and collected, it appears UW's point guard spot is in good hands for the next 3+ years.

Wisconsin’s bench has been under the microscope for most of conference play, especially when it comes to a lack of scoring and contributions. UW got nine points and nine rebounds from the reserves, but the only one to finish in the positive in the plus/minus category was freshman Lorne Bowman (+1).

The Detroit native played his first game in front of family and friends and got a shooter’s roll on a 3-point shot late in the first half, but he added three rebounds, an assist, and no turnovers in 11 minutes.

“I thought he was solid,” Gard said. “For him to come in here as a freshman in this environment against that team, the same thing with Chucky, I thought those two guys as freshmen point guards came in and really helped us solidify every possession for the most part and kept us in the plan we had. Lo was instrumental.”

The accolades are long and could be repetitive, but the success the Badgers are having this season deserves to be repeated. Off to their best start in league play in five seasons, the Badgers are the only Big Ten team to have reached double-digit Big Ten wins in 19 of the last 21 seasons.

The Badgers won at both the Breslin Center and Purdue’s Mackey Arena in the same season for the first time in school history. Wisconsin hadn’t won true road games against both schools since 1963, four years before Mackey Arena opened.

From a national perspective, Wisconsin has the resume of one of the top eight seeds in the NCAA Tournament. UW is 9-2 away from home, 4-3 against the AP Top 25, tied with Kansas for the most Quad 1 wins in the country, and don’t have a loss outside of Quad 1.

Wisconsin fans should celebrate it, because the Badgers are already in the process of moving on to Rutgers on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s one day at a time, it’s one game at a time,” Gard said. “I know that sounds cliché and I sound like I’m just pulling out coach speak, but it’s really how we approach it and how we always have. Just stay in the moment, enjoy the moment. If something doesn’t go quite right, let’s learn from it, fix it, improve, and move on. If something goes well, we got to do it again because this 40 minutes is behind us and we’ve got to move on to what’s next with Rutgers on Saturday.”

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