Wisconsin Outlasts UW-Milwaukee, 74-68
December 15, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Junior Alando Tucker scored 25 points as the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team fended off a feisty UW-Milwaukee team 74-68 Thursday night at the Kohl Center.
After leading by as many as 20 points, Wisconsin (9-1) found itself trailing early in the second half following a 23-2 run by the Panthers (4-3). But the Badgers fought back with 12 second-half points from Tucker and 14 from Kammron Taylor to hand UWM head coach Rob Jeter, formerly a Badger assistant coach, the loss.
Taylor finished with 23 points, six assists and shot 13-of-15 from the line. Many of his points, as well as Tucker's, came from in the paint, where UW held a whopping 34-16 advantage.
Boo Davis made 7-of-14 three-point attempts en route to 23 points for UWM. Joah Tucker, who entered the contest with a team-high 15.7 ppg average, tallied four fouls in the first half but still managed 10 points and five rebounds, as well as seven turnovers.
'(Jeter) wasn't going to let (his team) fold, ' head coach Bo Ryan said. 'He wasn't going to let them back up at all. '
At the 8:01 mark in the first period, the Badgers were up 32-12. Less than three minutes later, Joah Tucker picked up his fourth foul from a technical foul, which somehow sparked UW-Milwaukee to its comeback and just a 37-30 halftime deficit.
The Badgers finally ended a more than eight-minute scoring drought four minutes into the second half. But using their momentum, the Panthers were able to build a 45-41 lead with 12:00 showing on the clock.
UW answered with a 20-7 run and made 9-of-12 free throws in the last two minutes to hold on and complete its sweep of its in-state rivals this year.
Following approximately a two-week break, Wisconsin returns to action at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 at the Kohl Center to take on Louisiana Tech.
Game Notes
UW improved to 22-1 all-time against UW-Milwaukee and 13-2 vs. its three in-state rivals (Marquette, UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee) under head coach Bo Ryan ' Ryan improved to 1-0 against his former assistant coach, Rob Jeter ' Wisconsin had two players (Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor) score at least 20 points in a game for the second time this season ' Taylor dished out a career high six assists ' Brian Butch rejected a career-high three shots. In fact, Wisconsin blocked a season-high eight shots ' Tucker led the team in scoring for the sixth time this year ' the Badgers' 9-1 start is the best under Ryan ' the Badgers scored at least 70 points in 9-of-10 games this season.
Post-game Quotations
UW-Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter
Opening statement: 'I've been on both sides of this and there is a reason why Wisconsin is very good at home. They stick to it, guys step up and they just find ways to beat you. I'm proud of my guys, down 20 and we just kept fighting and being aggressive in a place where not many teams have been ahead in this building and on the winning side. I should know, I've been on the other side. I 'm proud of these guys and the way they fought through. Especially for the guys who picked up for Joah [Tucker] who did what he had to do when he got back in there. I give him credit too for persevering and sticking through it and coming back and being able to finish the game.'
On how special the game was tonight: 'It was special coming back. The coach has given me a lot of opportunities and this is just another one of those to learn from him again. It was a special night, no doubt. Like I told my guys before the game: `Did we prepare for this game any differently' Did we do anything any differently for this game as we have any others'' No. But is it special ' Absolutely. This is a special place. For these guys too. This is the last time they will have a chance to put on that uniform and come in here and play. So yeah, it was special for a lot of reasons, but obviously my relationship with the coach made it a lot more special.'
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On UW-Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter: 'Well I tell you he wasn 't going to let them fold, he wasn't going to let them back up at all. We did some things pretty well. In basketball games there's runs, they made theirs too and they did it without Joah (Tucker) too. So that gave them some confidence at halftime. So we knew coming out at the second half it was going to be a possession for possession battle. That's why you play these games.
On winning close games: 'You would have to say that you feel better after you're on the left hand side than on the right hand side but still, the thing is, as coaches, we're always trying to build within the players, no matter who's on the floor, is that concept is that if I get slightly beaten on dribble penetration, does somebody have my back' And that's all we 're doing here in the non-conference season, is trying to build that within the team. So if you get on the long end rather than the short end at the end of the game, of course you'll take it. Of course you're happy. `The guys found a way ' as the expression goes. But the thing is while all that's going on, we 're trying to be a better team for 40 minutes, not just the last four. Because we saw that always doesn't work, it was Wake Forest had more answers down the stretch and one more answer than we did.
