Badgers Clip Golden Eagles, 77-63
December 10, 2005 | Men's Basketball
University of Wisconsin men's basketball head coach Bo Ryan earned his 100th victory at UW as his team defeated Marquette 77-63 Saturday afternoon at the Kohl Center.
Junior Kammron Taylor led all scorers with 18 points to help Ryan become the fifth coach with 100 wins at Wisconsin (7-1). Senior Ray Nixon added career highs of 15 points and three steals, and junior Jason Chappell tallied 10 points and a career-high nine rebounds.
Steve Novak posted 14 points and eight rebounds for the Golden Eagles (6-3), whose 16 turnovers were converted to 20 points by UW. Dominic James chipped in 10 points and eight assists, but he also committed a game-high four turnovers.
'We did a good job of taking away (Marquette's) transition (game),' Ryan said. 'This is a game that we were pretty good with that.'
Marquette held a 23-19 lead with slightly less than eight minutes left in the opening period, as the Badgers shot just 36 percent (9-of-25) from the floor. But Wisconsin bounced back with a 14-4 run and ended up with a 44-31 lead at the half.
Things got worse in the next half for the Golden Eagles, who at the 7:20 mark in the first were shooting 11-of-18 (.611) but then shot just 13-of-46 (.283) the rest of the contest. Subsequently, UW built up a 17-point cushion (58-41) with 11:57 remaining and never saw its advantage dip below 11 from there on out.
Novak, who entered the game shooting 43.3 percent from beyond the arc, finished just 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) today. MU's Wes Matthews, a former Madison Memorial standout, was held to 2-of-12 shooting and nine points, all of which came in the second half.
The Badgers will next take on UNC-Wilmington at 7 p.m. Monday at the Kohl Center.
Game Notes
Wisconsin improved to 61-51 all-time against Marquette, including 36-14 in Madison ' the Badgers have scored at least 70 points in every game this season. They are 62-3 under head coach Bo Ryan when they score at least 70 points ' seven of UW 's eight steals came in the first half ' UW only had two turnovers in the first half ' the Badgers had three players score in double-figures for the fourth straight game ' Ray Nixon's field goals (six) and attempts (10) were both career highs
Post-game Quotations
Marquette Head Coach Tom Crean
Opening Statement
'I thought that at the 8:00 mark in the first half we had the lead, and then I never liked our demeanor the rest of the half. We were very aggressive early on and were playing some good defense and following the game plan. We had a four-point lead and kept it for a little bit then we lost our aggressiveness. We didn 't have any ball pressure, we gave them lay-ups and we settled for jump shots. I think so much of the game is built on that.
'We built ourselves a hole at halftime of 13 points. Even though I thought we were pretty aggressive during the second half, it's hard to come back from that. We just couldn't get over the hump; they shot the ball extremely well today. I was really disappointed in our ability to defend, giving them open jumpers throughout the game. We know that that is a huge part of their game with plenty of guys who can shoot the ball.'
On defending Wisconsin
'I thought our guys did a good job defending the center of (Wisconsin's) offense, Alando Tucker, but we didn't do a god job at all defending against Kammron Taylor, and then Ray Nixon did what seniors do. I don't think he scored a point against us in the last few years and today he gets 15. A lot of credit to Ray, he has made himself a better player. They were just more aggressive and they got to the foul line more than we did. Our problems were the last eight minutes of the first half, and that is the reason we couldn't come back in the game. '
UW Head Coach Bo Ryan
On Kammron Taylor's play today:
'I thought the turnovers today were strange. We had two in the first half, then six in the first few minutes of the second and then one at the end. I 'd say that's pretty good care being taken by your players. They valued the basketball and Kam was one of those guys that was making sure it happened. He is the leader of that.'
On defending Marquette:
'We did a good job of taking away transition. Our seniors do a good job of that. Once our players have a good understanding of our philosophy and what we are trying to get done on every trip, then we are playing how we want to. This is a game that we were pretty good with that, the key is it has to happen in the next game. Some people want to play a speed up game, but I'll say it again, how many easy baskets do you get in the Big Ten' Not a lot.'
On getting his 100th win:
'I didn't see any confetti in the locker room, no things you blow on and they roll out when you blow on them, they didn't care. They don't care about numbers that way, I don't care about numbers that way. The thing that I do think about, if you are going to talk numbers, If you think over X number of years of coaching about all the guys you get a chance to meet and be a part of their lives. Those are the numbers I like.'
