STAT PACK: No.21 Wisconsin Grinds Past Nebraska in 61-48 Road Victory
For the second straight road game, the University of Wisconsin continued to scuffle offensively, remained out of sync with its perimeter shot attempts and worked through uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns. The only difference between the two games was the opponent, which was fortunate for the Badgers to survive.
No.21 Wisconsin continued to look out of sorts offensively for long stretches, but the Badgers did enough to outlast last-place Nebraska, 61-48, at Pinnacle Bank Arena Wednesday.
Jonathan Davis scored 10 points for Wisconsin (15-6, 9-5 Big Ten), which shot only 32.3 percent from the floor but had six players score at least eight points and turn 17 turnovers into 17 points.
Lat Mayen scored 14 points for Nebraska (4-11, 0-8), which has lost 25 straight Big Ten games.
BadgerBlitz takes a closer look at the game in the Stat Pack.
- The 32.3 shooting percentage for Wisconsin mentioned above was the Badgers’ second-worst shooting percentage of the season, trailing the 30.8 percent shooting game at Michigan. UW finished 9-for-32 from 3-point range (28.1 percent), the third time in the last four games the Badgers shot below 30 percent from 3-point range, and averaged just .897 points per possession.
- UW’s bench delivered 23 points, including Davis scoring eight of his 10 points in the second half and Trevor Anderson scoring five of his eight after halftime.
- The Badgers finished with eight turnovers, ending a streak of three straight games with double-digit turnovers.
- Wisconsin's starting lineup of D'Mitrik Trice (3-for-14), Aleem Ford (3-for-12), Tyler Wahl (1-for-8), Brad Davison (3-for-7) and Nate Reuvers (2-for-8) shot a combined 12-for-49 (24.5 percent).
- Nebraska entered the night shooting 41.1 percent as a team, putting the Huskers 13th in the conference. However, UW’s leaky post defense allowed Nebraska to get high-percentage looks at the rim. The Huskers started 8-for-12 from the floor with assists on each basket and eight points in the paint.
- After Nebraska’s hot start, the Huskers finished the game 10-for-37 overall and 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
- Wisconsin led 14-10 after Davison hit his second 3-pointer, but the Badgers gave up a 10-0 run in just 2:02 – a 3-pointer, a lay-up, a dunk and a 3-pointer.
- The Huskers lead grew to 22-14 before Ford made a pair of free throws to end a scoring drought of nearly five minutes.
- Nebraska had 12 turnovers in the first half, including seven in a stretch of 4 minutes, 58 seconds. The Huskers also missed six consecutive field goals, but the Badgers struggled to seize momentum after missing 13 of 15 shots.
- Finally inching ahead with 2:22 remaining in the first half, Wisconsin took a 3-point lead into the locker room after Wahl registered a steal with five seconds remaining that started a fast-break opportunity. Ford was just 2-for-8 in the first half, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer gave UW a 30-27 lead at the break.
- Huskers made only two field goals the final 12 minutes
- Wisconsin took control in the first meeting against Nebraska with a big second half, averaging 1.313 points per possession on 50 percent shooting, but the Badgers missed their first five shots that included three opportunities in the paint.
- Davis got Wisconsin moving in the second half with a 3-pointer from the corner at 16:48 (the first points for either team in the half) and an old-fashioned 3-point play when he finished in the lane through contact.
- After Trice hit a 3-pointer to put Wisconsin up double digits (39-29) for the first time, the Badgers fell into another shooting lull with no field goals for almost four minutes. The lead dipped back to six, but Trice hit a jumper off a Davison steal, and Davison hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to push the lead to 11.
- Anderson delivered two huge shots for Wisconsin late in the second half, hitting a one-handed floater as his momentum carried him out of bounds and a 3-pointer at 7:05, putting the Badgers up 14 points.
- Wisconsin led by as many as 16 points with 5:11 remaining, but the Huskers executed a 7-0 run that included a pair of layups.
- Reuvers – who earned his first start since Jan.12 in place of Potter – effectively iced the game by scoring four straight points from the free throw line to put the Badgers up 13 with 1:41 remaining.
- Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center for Sunday afternoon game against No.3 Michigan. Tipoff on Valentine’s Day is schedule for noon on CBS. The Wolverines are currently on a COVID pause but have set Sunday as their targeted return date.