Wisconsin Badgers successful in Border Battle weekend

The Wisconsin Badgers and Minnesota Golden Gophers faced off this weekend in hockey and basketball with the Badgers winning two out of the three matchups.

Hockey

The Badgers welcomed in the No. 7 Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend to the Kohl Center for a weekend series in a rivalry matchup that never fails to disappoint, regardless of their standing in the NCAA hockey world.

Wisconsin has improved mightily from a year ago, over .500 and already surpassing their win total from last season. The Gophers entered the series riding a six-game winning streak and got the best of the Badgers Friday night to make it seven straight.

In a packed Kohl Center, there was a lot of offense as both teams scored three goals a piece and gave the great fans of this rivalry game an extra period. Despite trailing 2-0 and 3-2, the Badgers clawed back on two different occasions to tie the game but could not grab the go-ahead goal at any point, including the game-winner in overtime.

Less than two minutes into the extra period, Minnesota’s Justin Kloos ended the game and secured the victory for the Gophers.

“It was tough. The bottom line is we have to come out and be ready to play the whole 60,” Badgers’ Cameron Hughes said following Friday night’s game. “We did a lot of good things and we need to remember that when we played our game and our style, we had success. I think you all saw it for the last two periods.”

Wisconsin came out on Saturday doing just that, playing a full 60 minutes and resulting in a much different final. Again, the Gophers jumped out to a two-goal first period and a 2-1 lead after one, but the Badgers came out firing in the second- scoring three goals to take the lead for good.

Five different Badgers players scored as a balanced attack helped the Badgers split the series and end Minnesota’s win-streak, defeating the Gophers 5-3 Saturday night. It was recorded as the largest crowd the Kohl Center has seen for a men’s hockey game in three years, which goes to show the direction of this program.

“It was a big one for a lot of reasons. The fans being here, we knew they were going to come back,” head coach Tony Granato said. “We knew they’d get them in here and we’ve played entertaining hockey all year and we wanted to make sure that when we got a bunch of them in here that we play well and we’re able to find a way to win and that’s what happened.”

The Badgers currently sit at 11-8-1 on the year and 4-2 in the Big Ten. The split this weekend keeps them in a tie with Minnesota in the loss column. The Gophers are 6-2 in league play, with Penn State and Ohio State are also tied a top the Big Ten with two losses.

Basketball

In a game that was ranked the hardest remaining game for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team (KenPom), the Badgers fought off an offensive clinic from the Gophers in Minneapolis and escaped with a 78-76 overtime win.

Ethan Happ had a career day for the Badgers, scoring a career high 28 points and stuffing the box score with 12 rebounds, six assists, and five blocked shots. Nigel Hayes added 21 points and Bronson Koenig added 11, including the go-ahead three-pointer with less than a minute to play in the extra session.

The win for Wisconsin keeps them tied at the top of the Big Ten with Maryland. The Badgers are winners of three in a row since their loss at Purdue and 12 of their last 13.

Minnesota, who ranks 11th in the conference in three-point shooting, stuck with the Badgers by connecting from downtown. The Gophers made seven of their first ten attempts and although they slowed down and regressed to the mean, they still finished 53 percent from behind the arc.

UW-Milwaukee transfer Akeem Springs, who beat Wisconsin last year in Madison as a member of the Panthers, had 16 points and three three-pointers, including the game tying bucket at the end of regulation. Springs had one final chance to add to his name at the end of overtime, but his game-winning attempt fortunately bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.

The win is not only important for the standings, but it is safe to assume not a lot of teams are going to win at Minnesota this season in the Big Ten. The Gophers are already much improved from last season and will compete for an NCAA Tournament berth down the stretch. Both teams will meet again in the regular season finale in Madison.

The Badgers return home take on Penn State on Tuesday.