MADISON, WIS. -- Wisconsin sits 22 games into this 2021-22 season with just as many wins as it recorded last season. It needs only one conference victory to equal last year's total with eight Big Ten contests to go.

Saturday's 51-49 taming of Penn State was not particularly pleasing to the eyes offensively. The Badgers (18-4 overall, 9-3 Big Ten) shot 37.5% from the field while containing the Nittany Lions (9-10, 4-7) -- who encountered travel delays into Madison -- to 31.6% in that category.

That said, a win is a win in this conference.

"Obviously, a gritty group I've got, which it's not the first time I've said that," head coach Greg Gard said after the game in his opening comments. "As I told them, I said good teams find a way when things aren't going your way offensively. I thought defensively, maybe one of our better efforts of the year because it had to be when you get in these type of games. It's not the first time we've been in them that you have to find other ways -- defensively on the glass, taking care of the ball, and just being able to find enough offense and have other guys step up and help us.

"I thought Steve [Crowl] was really big in the second half. Tyler [Wahl], Chucky [Hepburn] made some plays. So it was a good, good team win, and we had to rely on guys that normally don't get all the spotlight."

BadgerBlitz.com presents some takeaways from a win that allows UW to sit tied for second in the conference standings with No. 4 Purdue.