Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers Hang on for Win at Penn State
By Jim Oxley
The Wisconsin basketball team earned a road win at Penn State
After opening up a 16-point lead early in the second half, the Wisconsin Badgers survived a late-game comeback in a sloppy game against the Penn State Nittany Lions to leave Pennsylvania with a 66-60 victory
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The win, coming on the heels of a big victory at home over Michigan State, marked the Badgers first back-to-back wins in Big Ten play this season. It wasn’t an easy victory, though, even though the game appeared easily in hand for much of the second half.
Wisconsin missed four free throws in the final minute of play as Penn State threatened, but Wisconsin’s defense forced tough shots and cleaned up loose rebounds to secure the victory.
Wisconsin was led on the night by a strong showing from Ethan Happ, who scored 20 points and earned his seventh double-double of the season with another 11 rebounds. Nigel Hayes added 15 points and five rebounds, and Alex Illikainen added 9 points off of the bench, all in the first half.
Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin’s defense held Penn State to a 38.6 percent shooting night from the field, and held Brandon Taylor, the Nittany Lions’ leading scorer, without a basket until late in the second half. Taylor came into the game averaging 16.4 points per game, and finished with 13 on the night.
The first half was all about Happ and Illikainen for the Badgers, who scored 10 and 9 points, respectively, during a sloppy first 20 minutes for both teams.
After trailing 3-0 early in the game, the Badgers went on an 11-0 run to go up 11-3 before Penn State hit another shot with about 14 minutes to play in the first half. Happ and Illikainen added four points each in the 11-0 run.
Both teams struggled to score the remainder of the first half, and Penn State didn’t record double-digits until a pair of free throws with just over 7 minutes to play in the first half made it a 17-11 game in the Badgers favor.
The Nittany Lions warmed up from there, closing it to a 3-point gap at 20-17 with under 4 minutes to play before Happ scored his 10th point of the game to make it a 22-17 game. Wisconsin closed out the half strong, and, aided by a three-pointer from Illikainen in the final seconds, went into the halftime break up 27-18.
Wisconsin kept up the strong play out of the break and quickly went up 36-20 in the first four minutes of the second half to take a 16-point lead. With about 13 minutes to play in the first half, Taylor scored for Penn State to make it a 40-25. It was Taylor’s first bucket of the game after the Badgers defense held him scoreless for nearly 27 minutes.
Penn State pulled within 10 points, but by the 8-minute mark Wisconsin opened the lead up to 16 again at 48-32. Penn State fought back again, and made it a 9-point game at 51-42 with under 5 minutes to play, and came within 7 points at 52-45 with three and a half to play.
After a Penn State bucket, a Hayes three pointer made it a 55-47 game with two and a half minutes to play. The Nittany Lions closed the gap to 6 points with just over a minute to play at 60-54, and with 40 seconds to play, free throws helped Penn State close the gap to 62-57.
A deep three pointer from Devin Foster with 26 seconds remaining made it a 62-60 game, and a Happ free throw put the lead back to 63-60. The Badgers forced a miss on the other end, and Happ drew a foul with 15 seconds left and hit both free throws to push it back to a five point lead.
A Penn State miss on the ensuing possession closed out the game and the Badgers survived the comeback attempt for the road victory.
Wisconsin is next on the road at No. 25 Indiana on Tuesday night. The Badgers are now 3-4 in Big Ten play
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