Wisconsin Whomps Western Carolina, 89-49
December 27, 2004 | Men's Basketball
The Wisconsin men's basketball team overwhelmed Western Carolina in a 89-49 win Monday night at the Kohl Center. The teams' first meeting extended the Badgers ' home winning streak to 35 games and this season's record to 8-2. The Catamounts fell to 5-9 on the season.
Leading 40-18 with minutes remaining the first half, Greg Stiemsma, Jason Chappell and Boo Wade entered the game. It was Wade's first appearance for the Badgers since taking a leave of absence in October of this year. Wade scored one point in the game and recorded two rebounds. Meanwhile, Stiemsma tallied his first career basket for Wisconsin and Chappell added one from inside the arc.
With a 20-point leading heading into the break, Wisconsin's Kammron Taylor led all shooters with 10 points in the half.
The second half opened with the teams trading points until 14:46 when the Badgers, fueled by Mike Wilkenson and Alando Tucker, went on a five-minute, 18-4 scoring run. With just over two minutes left to play Coach Bo Ryan put fan-favorite Tanner Bronson into the game, though the newcomer was not able to get a look at the hoop.
Leading the Badgers in scoring was Tucker with 21 points. Tucker also marked two assists and brought down 10 boards.
On the other side of the court, the Catamounts were led by Jared Outing with just 11 points in the day, six of which were scored in the first half. He was the only Catamount to score in double digits
The team hopes to carry this momentum into Wednesday's match-up against No. 14 Alabama. The Crimson Tide has suffered just one loss this season and holds a 10-1 record heading into the meeting. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. with all the action televised live on ESPN2.
Game Notes: The game was the first meeting between the two teams ' Wisconsin improved its nation-leading and school-record home winning streak to 35 ' UW is now 3-0 in the third game of its four-game home stand ' under head coach Bo Ryan, Wisconsin is 47-1 when scoring at least 70 points ' the Badgers' 20-point halftime advantage (40-20) represented their greatest halftime lead this season, while their 40-point win was their largest ' Alando Tucker led Wisconsin in scoring for the fifth time this year ' freshman Greg Stiemsma scored his first career basket ' Boo Wade played for the first time this season ' Ray Nixon did not suit up because of illness ' Western Carolina shares five common opponents with the Badgers and so far is 0-4 against them ' Middleton, Wis., native David Berghoefer had six points and a team-high 10 rebounds
Post-game quotes:
Western Carolina coach Steve Schurina
On Wisconsin as a team:
'I think they're the best team we've played. They're the best team on film by far and they are one of the best defensive teams we've played against. Every single shot we took was contested or challenged, and because of the way they play they also rebound very well. They're one of the best defensive teams I've seen on film and also in person. '
On Rebounding:
'Well Greensboro got out rebounded by a lot and Fran had warned me about that coming in. They are just so big and strong and the way they play defense and just their style of defense makes it extremely difficult to get to the basket any way and their size on top of that is makes it more difficult.'
On Playing Big Ten Teams on the Road:
'Well, by far that was our worst performance tonight. We played Marquette and I think we led for more of that game than we trailed'played at Penn State, Iowa okay, its tough. This is an unbelievable arena, phenomenal atmosphere, I don't know how many empty seats there were, but it didn't look like many. It's tough. Plus I think our eight road games have been all over the place, we've traveled over eight thousand miles, so when you throw that on top of it, it makes it extremely difficult.'
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan
On playing with the lead: 'It depends on the other team and what they're trying to accomplish. If you can stay consistent on the offensive end and continue to play hard on defense we could make it a game like this. On the glass, we did a good job. We know we're going to play bigger teams. But every shot is a potential loose ball and we always tell our guys we want the loose ball. I felt we did a pretty good job on the glass and kept them at bay. They've had some streaks on the games we've looked at on film and we kept them from getting those. No matter what combo we had out there on the floor, I thought everybody played well together. We want to play for what's on the front of the shirt, I thought we did a pretty good job rotating and preventing easy shots.'
On comparing this UW effort with the Western Carolina game:
'I see two similar games. We got on the glass and tried to make something happen to get to the glass and draw some fouls. We have a hard time looking at the bottom line of the statistics but I don't see anything different from the last game. I like to see guys playing hard. '
On Kammron Taylor: 'The statistics will show you that he produced numbers. If the shot goes in it looks good, if you take care of the ball it looks even better. We'll take contributions any way we can get them. If I didn 't believe in them, I wouldn't put them on the floor. Every guy I 've every put on the floor I've believed in. If they can generate some offense, we'll play off of them.'
