Wisconsin Basketball: Bronson Koenig Buzzer Beater Sends Badgers to Sweet Sixteen

A Bronson Koenig three-pointer led the Wisconsin basketball team over Xavier

The Badgers are back in the Sweet Sixteen after a buzzer-beater from Bronson Koenig lifted the seven-seeded Wisconsin basketball team over the two-seeded Xavier Musketeers 66-63 Sunday night.

Despite another night of struggles from the field, the Badgers got into a better groove against Xavier, but were hit with foul trouble late in the game.

That didn’t stop the Badgers from tying it up late, making it a 63-all game with under 12 seconds to play. Zak Showalter drew a charge to give the Badgers the ball back, and Wisconsin called a timeout with two seconds left on the clock to set up a final shot.

Ethan Happ inbounded the ball to Koenig, who dribbled to the corner and launched a fadeaway three-pointer that fell perfectly through the hoop as time expired to give the Badgers the victory.

Bronson Koenig with the cold blooded game winner! #MarchMadness https://t.co/B0O0c0PnjR
— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) March 21, 2016

The game-winning three punched the Badgers a ticket to the Sweet Sixteen for the third straight season and the fifth time in the past six years.

After scoring just two points against Pittsburgh in the opening round, Koenig led the Badgers with 20 points against Xavier, including a 6-of-12 shooting performance from the three point line.

Happ added 18, Vitto Brown scored 12 and Nigel Hayes added just six.

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Jalen Reynolds and Remy Abell scored 13 each for Xavier, with Edmond Sumner adding 11. Hayes may have not had a great offensive performance for the Badgers, but he helped keep Xavier leading scorer Trevon Bluiett to just seven points.

The exciting finish in the second half was preceded by a rough first half that saw the Badgers take then lose a big lead.

Wisconsin finally saw Koenig get going from distance, as he knocked down a pair of three-pointers in back-to-back first half possessions to put the Badger ups 17-10. Xavier went on a run of their own, and got right back in the game.

Despite those two shots from Koenig, the Badgers continued to struggle shooting the ball in the first half, hitting just 36.4 percent of their shots.

And as he did against Pittsburgh, Brown kept the Badgers alive, scoring 10 points to lead the team at the break. Happ had seven for the Badgers as well in the first 20 minutes.

Wisconsin went into the break trailing 33-30, despite holding that seven-point lead earlier in the half.

The Badgers tied things back up out of the break, and retook the lead at 42-39 on a Happ and-one as the clock dipped below 14 minutes.

As the game hit the 10 minute mark, the Badgers found themselves in foul trouble as Brown sat with four and Happ and Hayes had three each.

Wisconsin’s shooting struggles continued and Xavier went on a run, taking a 58-49 lead with just over six minutes to play.

The Badgers fought back, going on a 6-1 run to get within four at 59-55 with about four and a half to play while Hayes sat on the bench with four fouls.

A Happ bucket with 2:10 left made it a 61-59 game in favor of the Musketeers, and the freshman recorded a block on the other end. Hayes drew a foul for the Badgers and hit one of two to make it a 61-60 game as the clock ticked below 1:30.

Sumner drove to the hoop to put Xavier up 63-60 with just over 30 seconds left, but Koenig answered with a deep three to tie the game with 11.7 seconds remaining.

Showalter took a charge as Xavier looked to win on the last shot, and the Badgers called timeout with 2.0 seconds left on the clock.

Koenig took the inbounds pass from Happ, dribbled to the corner, and buried a three to win it.

Wisconsin will play Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen.