MADISON, Wis. – Connor Essegian dribbled the ball casually near midcourt, without a care in the world, as he watched the final seconds tick down toward a shot-clock violation Wednesday night. It was an unusual sight this season for Wisconsin, winning a game in a decisive fashion that allowed it to empty its bench and not stress on the final possessions.

Wisconsin’s 64-52 victory over Iowa in front of a small but vocal contingent at the Kohl Center was meaningful on many levels. Continuing its February trend of alternating wins and losses, the Badgers (16-11, 8-9 Big Ten) registered its largest margin of victory over a Power-Five conference team this season, its largest margin over a Big Ten team, and swept the Hawkeyes (17-11, 9-8) a little more than two weeks before Selection Sunday.

“We’ve been in these close games for a while, coming out and having happy days and having sad days with those,” said senior Tyler Wahl, who finished with a season-high 14 rebounds to go with 11 points for his third double-double of the season. “It was really nice to be able to get the guys who really don’t get the limelight a whole lot, those guys at the end of the bench who are always engaged and always cheering us on to get out there and get in the box score. It was nice to see that and also have a good time, enjoying a double-digit win.”

UW saw multiple players rebound from the disappointment of Saturday’s loss to Rutgers, lean on the defensive principles that the program is known for, and did the right things to make the ball go through the hoop with greater regularity than it has in weeks.

Here are my takeaways from the Kohl Center.

Stuck in the toughest shooting rut of his short collegiate life, Essegian’s three-point specialty was still short-circuiting. So it was understandable when Essegian put his hands up, looked toward the Kohl Center rafters, and mouthed ‘thank you’ after finally getting one to drop during a pivotal moment in the second half.

“It was good to see one go in, but at that same time, I’ve always had that next-shot-in mentality,” Essegian said. “Whether it goes in or not, I know the guys trust me and I trust the guys. It was good to see one go in and get that back a little bit.”

Essegian wasn’t “on fire” against Iowa (he was 3-for-7 in the first half and 2-for-6 in the second half) but he wasn’t passive either. He could have easily got downtrodden after being involved in a couple of early turnovers and running his streak of missed perimeter shots to 15 straight. But the freshman kept shooting, and his three-pointer with 10:26 remaining put the Badgers up for good in what became a 24-11 run to end the game.

“It’s a lot of maturity for a first-year player in this league,” Wahl said. “Going from not hitting a shot to putting up a good amount of points and just being active on offense and defense was huge. Not letting that one game define him and just come back and bounce back is pretty impressive.”

Iowa forward Kris Murray was limited to no first half points in just over eight minutes played because of foul trouble. The rest of the time his limitations were caused by Wahl and the Wisconsin defense chasing him around.

Iowa’s leading scorer at 20.7 points per game, Murray finished with a season-low five points on 2-for-10 shooting, only managing a three-pointer, a dunk, and no points in the final 10:13 of the game.

“Tyler did a great job on him,” forward Steven Crowl said. “We wanted to keep Tyler on him for as much of the game as we could. I think Tyler did a great job being physical with him. We all know he’s a pretty good shooter.”

Without Murray’s offense, Iowa looked nothing like the team that led the conference in scoring at 80.3 points per game. The Badgers held the Hawkeyes to 26 points, 1-for-12 from the perimeter and 31.0 percent from the floor in the first half and 3-for-28 from the perimeter. Iowa’s 52 points were its second-fewest of the season.

"They made him work for it guarding him,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Wisconsin's defense on Murray. "They were physical, chasing him around, no help. Truthfully, that's what he kind of gets every game, but I thought they were really paying attention to him. He missed a couple bunnies he normally makes. I think that weighs on you a little bit."

Wisconsin committed five turnovers in its first nine possessions, the fifth turnover being the most damaging when Crowl was whistled for an offensive foul. His second foul of the game, Crowl went to the bench for the final 15:28 of the first half. Instead of things going sideways, Wisconsin outscored Iowa, 23-16, with Crowl on the bench by getting contributions from multiple outlets.

Wahl had to be relieved that Iowa didn’t treat him like Rutgers did and double him on every touch in the post and allowed him to be aggressive in the lane. Wahl scored eight points in the first half all coming at or around the rim. He also delivered a perfect pass from the top of the key to a cutting Essegian, who finished at the rim.

“With Steve out, I got to play a little five and be the big man for a little bit, which was fun,” Wahl said. “It was good. The ball was bouncing my way on the defensive end. I was doing a good job of hitting guys, boxing them out after I gave up a couple of boards. From there, it really just switched and things were going my way.”

Beyond Wahl, the Badgers got key minutes from its reserves. All five reserves who played either maintained or built Wisconsin’s lead in the first half, as Carter Gilmore (14 minutes, plus-3), Kamari McGee (three minutes, plus-3), Isaac Lindsey (3:36, plus-4), and Markus Ilver (5 minutes, plus-6) were critical.

“Isaac Lindsey gave up some good minutes early, just when we were not in synce and throwing the ball all over the place,” head coach Greg Gard said. “Markus Ilver, for four minutes, did some good things and he’s been showing signs of embracing physicality and playing that way in practice … We need everybody because you never know.”

Gilmore ended up playing close to 26 minutes and finished with four points and two rebounds, not to mention grinding away defensively on Iowa forward Filip Rebraca, while Ilver and Lindsey each had a basket.

“I know things on the stat sheet don’t pop up, but he’s such a smart player in terms of positioning, understanding angles, how to help a teammate, how to plug a gap,” Gard said of Gilmore. “He fought his butt off early to try and clean up some of the offensive rebounds they had in the first half.

“He does things within his role that maybe don’t get headlines, but are really important things, intangible things that teams need. Not everybody can be a star and he has accepted and embraced that role. Because of his evolution in that regard, we are better because of it.”

Put under full-court duress throughout the game, the start was as ugly as the weather for Wisconsin. Wahl committed two turnovers, including one that led to a fast break and a three-point play at the other end. Essegian bobbled one ball out of bounds and couldn’t corral a bad pass from Max Klesmit that had the same fate.

Those four miscues came in the first 3:48, leading to nine of Iowa’s first 10 points. Of the Hawkeyes' 26 first-half points, 11 came from UW turnovers.

Regrouping at halftime, emphasizing better 45-degree angles, getting the ball more toward the middle, not releasing to the frontcourt before the ball is out of the backcourt, and pushing it once the Badgers broke the press, the Badgers committing only one turnover in the first 19 minutes of the half.

The ability to break the press helped the Badgers get more action at the rim and set their defense, holding Iowa to 33.0 percent in the second half. Chucky Hepburn had a big hand with the offense with a solid floor game, finishing with 12 points, being more aggressive at the rim, and having five assists to one turnover with his decision-making against the press.

Moreover, Iowa went from four fast-break points early to none over the final 36 minutes. Four points are Iowa’s third-fewest transition points of the season.

“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 it 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.”

3 – Number of baskets for Isaac Lindsey since November 29. The guard was 1-for-2 from the floor.

15 – The number of consecutive three-pointers missed by Essegian before hitting a corner three with 4:54 remaining in the first half, giving Wisconsin a 22-20 lead.

19 – Wisconsin has had 11 or fewer turnovers in 19 consecutive games, dating back to its 80-77 overtime win at Marquette

3-for-28 – Iowa’s three-point percentage (10.7 percent), UW’s second-best perimeter defensive effort of the season (Stanford shot 6.3 percent (1-for-16) on November 11).

60 – Number of three-pointers for Essegian this season, tying Brad Davison for the most by a freshman in school history.

38-30 – Wisconsin finished plus-8 on the glass, the Badgers’ largest margin in Big Ten play this season.

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