MADISON, Wis. - Earlier this month, Juwan Howard elected to let Hunter Dickinson and his front court go one-on-one against Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl down low. And in that contest, Greg Gard took that opportunity and fed his big men early and often.

Wednesday evening at the Kohl Center, the Badgers' front court duo welcomed the matchup against an Iowa lineup that featured 6-foot-9 Filip Rebraca as their ‘5’ and 6-foot-8 Kris Murray or 6-foot-6 Connor McCaffery running as the wings.

That kind of matchup - along with early foul trouble for Crowl - allowed an aggressive Wahl to have another impressive outing against the Hawkeyes. Making all four of his shots in the first half, Wahl tallied eight points in the first period before he finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and one steal.

That kind of aggression was reminiscent of his 21-point outing back on his Dec. 11 when the senior helped lead Wisconsin to a win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“Iowa is a great team in transition, and they got a lot of opportunities in the first half,” Wahl said. “That’s where I feel like (they) kept in close. We did a good job controlling the game, tempo-wise. Turnovers were a big thing in the first half, and it was good to see that we could make that in-game adjustment.”

Crowl picked up two quick fouls in the first four and a half minutes of play. Those four minutes and 32 seconds would be his lone action in the first half. From there, Wahl was asked to play the '5.'

"With Steve out, I got to play a little 5 and be the big man a little bit, which was fun but it was good," Wahl said after the game. "The ball was bouncing my way on the defensive end and I was doing a good job I think hitting guys after I gave up a couple boards. And then from there it really just switched and things were going my way."

With the senior committing a pair of uncharacteristic turnovers, Gard sent Carter Gilmore up to the scorer's table to check in at the next dead ball. Gilmore ultimately ended up checking in for Crowl and not Wahl.

"Every player is different with how they respond," Gard said. "Sometimes you let players play through the mistakes, sometimes they need a little timeout to recollect and refocus and sometimes, game to game, it's a little different. But I thought how he responded by coming right back down and finishing in the post off the glass, that was a good sign that he wasn't letting what happened prior carry over."

Wahl was able to nod Gard away from the early substitution after his first basket with 16:37 left in the first half. The move to the rim looked like Wahl at his best. With the floor spaced and an off-ball screen from Essegian keeping a pair of help defenders busy, Wahl drove to the basket before backing Rebraca down and getting right to the rim for an easy finish.

Four minutes later, Wahl had guard Tony Perkins on an island on the left wing before taking a dribble to the right and then going behind the back. An extra dribble to the basket left Wahl right under the rim where he finished with a reverse layup.

"I think Tyler got his mojo going from how hard he played and the rebounds fueled what he did offensively," Gard said. "And when you chase scoring or are always motivated by that, you’ll never catch it. But as I told him before the game, just go play hard and let the chips fall where they may.

"When he stood next to me in the National Anthem line, I said play hard and let the chips fall where they may, and when you play hard good things happen - things fall in your lap, so to speak, and he did that. He played exceptionally hard and had a tougher assignment tonight with Murray, but he just kept battling back."

Wahl finished with just eight shot attempts - four in each half - but each one came with a purpose. The 14 rebounds were also important on a night where he served as the primary big more often than not.

After games earlier in the year against Northwestern where Wahl finished with just five shots and one rebound, or an overtime contest against Nebraska in which he tallied six points on six shots, his production against the Hawkeyes reflected the player fans saw before an ankle injury against Minnesota on Jan. 3.

"T (Wahl) was great today," Crowl said. "As we can all see his ankle is starting to get fully healthy back to what we saw earlier in the season, and 14 rebounds is a lot. He did most of the load on the boards for us. Had the two offensive rebounds as well so it wasn’t just the defensive boards...

"And like I said earlier, we’re starting to see the old Tyler we saw earlier this season."

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