Badgers Tear Up Titans
December 06, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Wisconsin dominated Detroit in a 68-42 victory in the Kohl Center Saturday night. The Badgers shot 48.9 percent from the field as they brought their record to 4-1.
Four Badgers scored in double digits tonight. Owens and Devin Harris led Wisconsin with 13 points a piece. Harris also dished out a career-high nine assists. Helmigk, who made his first start of the season, contributed a personal-best 12 points, hitting 5-of-6 from the field and shot a perfect 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. Zach Morley added 10 points and seven rebounds.
After four lead changes early in the game, the Badgers grabbed the lead for good when Andreas Helmigk hit two free-throws to put the Badgers ahead 6-5 just over three minutes into the game. Helmigk wrapped up a 10-4 run to put the Badgers ahead 19-9 with 8:29 remaining in the half. Freddie Owens was on fire in the first half hitting 4-of-5 as Wisconsin was on its way to a 30-20 advantage going into the break.
The Badgers started the second half on fire, as they opened with a 21-7 run to extend their advantage to 51-27. Detroit's late rally, a 10-3 run, was not enough to bring the Titans past the Badgers.
A key point of Wisconsin's battle was their aggressive defensive play that forced 14 turnovers, which they converted into 20 points.
Detroit's Rulon Harris led all scorers with 18 points.
UW leads the all time series with Detroit 3-0. This was the two teams ' first meeting since December 23, 1992 when the Badgers defeated the Titans 108-86 in Madison.
Wisconsin's next game is Wednesday night against in-state rival UW-Green Bay. The action begins at 7 p.m. at the Kohl Center. The game will be televised locally on ESPN Plus as well as on Wisconsin Public Television.
Wisconsin Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Detroit ' December 6, 2003
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On the offense: 'Well, a lot of those same looks we've had, they didn't quite go down like that. I think Andreas (Helmigk) coming, giving us a boost, knocking his down, they obviously played off of him and that basket had to look pretty big to him because he was getting some pretty good looks. I thought Devin (Harris) did a great job at drawing their defensive double team and drawing the help and finding the open guy. He thinks like the head coach now when it comes to turnovers. He had one deflected and you talk about a street fight going after that loose ball, because he knew if they got that loose ball, that's a turnover. Devin was a big key in controlling the offensive tempo; pushed it when it was there, when it wasn 't got the guys set. He did a pretty good job of that. That was the big thing, when you're saying, why did the offense look good. Well, spacing was pretty good, good screens, good hard cuts, same things we've been emphasizing all along. Sometimes they go down and it looks a little bit better.'
On the Badgers play as compared to other games this season: 'I watched comments for thirty-some years in coaching and a team wins the game and a coach comments on, `oh well this was much better'' and then really goes overboard. Then sometimes on a loss goes overboard the other way. So, I didn't get too harsh after the game on Tuesday night and I don't get too into, `Boy weren't we something tonight' routine. So, maybe it was the way Detroit playing, maybe they had a game plan of take this way, that way, we never know, we just probe. The openings were there and we just took advantage of them. When we look at the tape, we break it down, we show them positive and we show them the things they need to work on, just like we have, just like did for every other game.'
Detroit Head Coach Perry Watson
Opening Statement: 'We just got beat by a very good basketball team which I'm pretty sure you guys know. I've coached against Bo (Ryan's) team when he was in our league and one of the things his teams exemplify is that they're going to fight you tooth and nail for everything and they don't beat themselves. We had a tough night out there; we couldn't get anything easy. We just got handled by a very good team tonight. '
On how Wisconsin compares to Detroit's other competition: 'They are very good; sound, they don't beat themselves. They'll probably only give you one shot. They're a good team. They're a veteran team, and solid. I don't think anyone's better than them.'
