Reliving Wisconsin's Recent Big Ten Clinching Wins

MADISON, Wis. – The first week of March is shaping up to be a memorable one for the University of Wisconsin.

With the Badgers’ 66-61 victory at Rutgers Saturday coupled with Purdue’s loss at Michigan State earlier in the day, No.10 Wisconsin (23-5, 14-4 Big Ten) enters the final week of the regular season with a one-game lead over No.8 Purdue (24-5, 13-5) and No.20 Illinois (20-8, 13-5).

Hosting Purdue Tuesday and last-place Nebraska Sunday, if the Badgers win either of those games, they will earn a share of their 20th Big Ten regular-season championship, tying them for third all-time with Ohio State. (Purdue is first with 24, Indiana is second with 22). If UW sweeps the homestand, it will have its 10th outright regular-season conference championship.

Five of Wisconsin's regular-season titles have come in the previous 19 years, a tenure that coincides with the arrival of Bo Ryan and Greg Gard to UW’s campus.

Ahead of this week’s games, BadgerBlitz looks at Wisconsin’s other Big Ten clinching moments from the last two decades.

As improbable titles go, this ranks high on the list. Wisconsin started the year 1-4 and was 12-11 on February 2, sitting at 5-5 in the Big Ten. However, players from that team – guard Travon Davis, forward Charlie Willis, and others – have said it took time for the players to grasp Ryan’s swing offense and defensive principles. Eventually, everything came together.

Wisconsin beat league-leader Ohio State in overtime, knocked off Indiana (who played without Big Ten Player of the Year Jared Jeffries) on the road for the first time since 1977, and was riding a five-game win streak entering the regular-season finale.

While UW was winning, the dominoes around them fell with Ohio State and Indiana stumbling to the finish line. All the Badgers had to do was beat Michigan to hoist a trophy. It was no contest.

Four Badgers (Devin Harris, Kirk Penney, Freddie Owens, and Mike Wilkinson) scored in double figures in the UW’s 74-54 win over Michigan, clinching a share of UW’s first conference title since 1947. Davis had 10 rebounds and UW went 13-for-19 from 3-point range.

UW shared the title with Illinois and Indiana, finished 19-13 (11-5 Big Ten), and lost to eventual national champion Maryland in the NCAA Tournament second round.

If people thought Wisconsin’s 2002 title was a fluke, the Badgers silenced those critics by going back-to-back the following season. Although losing its first two Big Ten games (road contests at Michigan and No.10 Illinois), Wisconsin only lost twice more the rest of the conference season and remained undefeated at home.

Facing second-place Illinois in the regular-season finale, a victory would give Wisconsin the outright title. A loss to the Illini (which still had a home game against Minnesota to play) would have likely meant a second-place finish.

Penney led the Badgers with 14 points, while Devin Harris had 13, Alando Tucker had 12, and Wilkinson added 11. UW led by 10 points with just under six minutes left and 59-55 with a minute remaining, but Illinois forged a tie with nine seconds left.

Following a timeout, Harris got the inbounds pass and drew a foul on his drive to the basket with 0.4 seconds left. A 77 percent free-throw shooter, Harris missed the first to build the tension but calmly sunk the second one, giving the Badgers their first back-to-back conference titles since 1923-24.

“I think everybody in the building knows if he makes the first one, we're going to miss the second,” said Ryan, who became only the third coach in league history to win titles in his first two seasons. “I had already told the officials we're calling a timeout after he makes the first one. Oops!'”

UW finished the season 24-8 (12-4) and lost in the Sweet 16 to No.1-ranked Kentucky in Minneapolis.

Wisconsin needed to replace Tucker, the conference’s player of the year, and second-team all-conference guard Kammron Taylor from a 30-win team, but the Badgers retained a core group of veterans like centers Brian Butch and Greg Stiemsma, forwards Marcus Landry and Joe Krabbenhoft, and guard Michael Flowers. UW also saw sophomore guards Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes and freshman forward Jon Leuer fit seamlessly into the mix. That resulted in a dominant campaign.

UW beat every Big Ten team on its schedule (not named Purdue) and entered Senior Day needing to beat Penn State to earn a share of the title.

Behind 15 points from Landry, Wisconsin road the nation’s best scoring defense to hold the Nittany Lions to 29.6 percent. UW led 34-17 at halftime and by at least 20 points virtually the entire second half, allowing the Badgers to play most of their reserves in a 77-41 triumph that resulted in the students storming the court and lifting the UW seniors on their shoulders.

“To go out like we did, to achieve what we did, I think it's really special,” Stiemsma said. “It's one of those things where it doesn't seem like it should happen. I don't know if it's fate or whatever it is, but things fell into place for us.”

UW (31-5, 16-2) would clinch the outright Big Ten title three days later with a win at Northwestern, win its second conference tournament title a week after that, and advance to the Sweet 16.

Quite possibly one of the Big Ten’s greatest teams, Wisconsin returned most of the roster that was one friendlier roll away from playing for a national championship the prior year. Led by national player of the year Frank Kaminsky, NBA first-round pick Sam Dekker, guards Josh Gasser, Traevon Jackson, and Bronson Koenig, forward Nigel Hayes, and a deep bench, the Badgers won 21 of their first 25 games by double digits, including 10 of their first 13 Big Ten wins.

UW was so dominant it could have clinched a share of the conference title on February 24. A loss at No.14 Maryland, however, meant it had to wait a week later to hoist the trophy.

On Senior Day, Kaminsky delivered a season-high 31 points to go along with eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and two steals. Hayes added 14 and Dekker finished with nine points and eight rebounds to dispatch old foe Michigan State, 68-61.

UW (36-4, 16-2) won the outright Big Ten title four days later at Minnesota, finished the conference season 16-2 (two games better than Maryland), and won the conference tournament in Chicago.

Much like the conference title 18 years prior, this triumph came out of nowhere. Coming off a tragic offseason with the car accident of assistant coach Howard Moore, which killed his wife and daughter, the Badgers lost back-to-back games to Richmond and New Mexico in November, saw leading scorer Kobe King transfer in late January, and were 5-5 entering February. A one-point home win over No.14 Michigan State gave UW life but that was erased with an 18-point loss at Minnesota after the team’s strength coach resigned for using a racial epithet.

Galvanized by their teammate’s belief in each other, and a heavy home schedule, UW strung together seven consecutive wins and moved into first place with a victory over Northwestern in the home finale. Needing to continue their mastery over Indiana, the Badgers erased a nine-point deficit in the second half to earn a 60-56 victory at Assembly Hall.

Forward Nate Reuvers had 17 points, including a second-chance bucket to increase UW’s lead with 21 seconds left to 58-54. Forward Micah Potter had a double-double (14 points and 11 rebounds), including multiple late offensive rebounds that led to six points, while guard D’Mitrik Trice and Brad Davison delivered timely buckets in the closing minutes.

After the Hoosiers took their largest lead at 46-37, Indiana only made one more basket the rest of the game – a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left to cut the lead to two. Indiana also went nearly six minutes without a point, a drought that helped the Badgers go on a 12-0 run to take control of the game.

UW (21-10, 14-6) shared the Big Ten title with Maryland and Michigan State but the rest of the postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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