Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers Overcome Slow Start In Victory
The Wisconsin basketball team defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at home Tuesday
After a disastrous start to the first half, the Wisconsin basketball team took control in the second half to beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 64-49 on Tuesday night in the Kohl Center.
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The Wisconsin Badgers snapped their two-game home losing streak to improve to 7-5 on the season, as Vitto Brown recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
Ethan Happ, who had dealing with an illness this week, tied for a game-high 15 points with six rebounds. Bronson Koenig also scored 15 for Wisconsin with three assists.
Wisconsin struggled mightily at the start and made its first field goal nearly six minutes into the game. Luckily, the Islanders did not shoot much better, keeping the Badgers in the game.
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Wisconsin started 2-for-16 shooting from the field and missed its first 10 shots, but the Badgers finished the half making seven of their next 11 field goal attempts to pull ahead for a 27-19 lead at the break.
Wisconsin finished the half 9 of 27 from the field, including 3 of 9 from three-point range, and made just six of its 13 free throw attempts. The Badgers also turned the ball over seven times in the opening half.
Corpus-Christi came into the season with a 7-2 record with its losses coming against Texas and Texas A&M. In those defeats, opposing big men were a problem for the Islanders. The biggest issue for Wisconsin offensively in the first half was playing around the perimeter, settling for too many jump shots when going inside has proven to be the way to beat the Islanders.
Whenever Koenig drove into the lane, it seemed like good things happened. It would be nice to see him do more of that, which creates more flow to an offense that becomes stagnant at times.
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The Badgers did a nice job getting into the paint in the second half, as they slowly pulled away. The offense ran much more smoothly, aside from some sloppy turnovers. The movement in the offense created much better shot opportunities for three-point shooters as well as easy buckets down low.
Wisconsin shot 64 percent from the field in the second half. The Badgers got into the bonus early in both halves, but free throws did not fall, as they finished the game 18 of 31 from the line, an average of 58.1 percent. Koenig, Brown and Nigel Hayes combined for 7 of 17 on free throws.
Hayes scored eight points on 2 of 7 shooting with seven rebounds but committed six turnovers. Zak Showalter was limited in the first half after picking up two fouls early and finished eight points.
Wisconsin does not play again until Dec. 23 against UW-Green Bay at home. The Badgers will look to avoid being swept by the state of Wisconsin before Big Ten play begins on Dec. 29 against Purdue.
Related Story: Will the Badgers make the NCAA tournament?
Stay tuned to Badger of Honor for more as the season continues.