Badgers Bury Phoenix, 82-62
December 07, 2005 | Men's Basketball
The University of Wisconsin men's basketball team defeated in-state rival UW-Green Bay 82-62 to remain undefeated against the Phoenix. The Badgers improved to 6-1 on the season while UW-Green Bay dropped to 2-5. The Kohl Center was packed with 17,142 fans for the sell-out game Wednesday night.
Junior forward Alando Tucker once again led the Badger in scoring with 18 points. Michael Flowers added career highs of 12 points and six steals, while Brian Butch tallied 14 points and eight rebounds.
UW-Green Bay's Ryan Evanochko set a career high with 22 points to lead all scorers. Teammate Mike Schachtner chipped in 18 points and six rebounds.
The Badgers led for the majority of the game, but the Phoenix kept the game close not, allowing the margin to exceed 10 points until 10:27 mark in the second half. In fact, Terry Evans hit a jumper 2:51 into the second half to give UWGB a 47-46 lead.
However, Wisconsin responded with a 22-7 run and held on from there.
In the first, UW-Green Bay scored first for its only lead of the half, but held it for just 13 seconds before Wisconsin pulled ahead with back-to-back 3-pointers and two free throws. The teams traded baskets while Wisconsin slowly inched its lead ahead. An Evanochko jumper with six seconds in the half pulled the Phoenix within three (40-37) heading into the locker room.
But UWGB scored just 25 points in the second half, and UW dominated in the paint 34-12 for the contest, as Wisconsin won its second straight.
The Badgers resume action at noon Saturday when they play host to Marquette at the Kohl Center.
Game Notes
Wisconsin is now 12-0 all-time against UW-Green Bay ' the Badgers are 11-2 against in-state rivals under Bo Ryan, including 9-0 at the Kohl Center ' UW has won 23 consecutive home games against non-conference opponents ' junior Jason Chappell set a career high with eight rebounds, beating his previous best of five set against Coastal Carolina two weeks ago ' sophomore Brian Butch tied his career high with two blocks and also moved into a tie for the team lead this season at seven ' sophomore Michael Flowers set a career best with 12 points and six steals ' the Badgers have scored at least 70 points in all seven of their games this season ' Phoenix guard Ryan Evanochko set a career high with 22 points
Post-game Quotations
UW-Green Bay Head Coach Tod Kowalcyzk
On Tillema's injury:
'He hurt it in practice yesterday and we thought he would play. He got some treatment at 7:30 this morning. He had a hard time catching. Most of the pain was from catching, I don't think it was from shooting. Despite going 0 for 8, he took some big steps forward. He battled defensively better then he has in awhile and rebounded the ball very well. He started to become a more complete player.'
On Wisconsin's play in the paint during UW's 22-7 run:
'That was the story of the game. It has kind of been a pattern with our team this year. I felt during that run we had some good looks but didn 't make some shots; Tillema had some looks, Evan had some looks 'during that run we didn't convert. But on the defensive end, when you're not making shots, you'd better make some stops. And that's when I thought Tucker's athleticism took over. I think it was mostly him, penetrating, posting up and we didn't do a good job guarding him during that stretch.'
On playing in Wisconsin at the Kohl Center:
'When you have a chance to play in state games, when you have a chance to play against a Big Ten team in the Kohl Center, I would have to be very naive to think that our players don't look at this as a special game. I know as a coach you try to make every game a big game. But when you play against Wisconsin, I would have to be really naive to think that the players' don't look at it with a different attitude. We were executing really well in the first half. I told the guys at halftime, `If we hold them to 30 points, we'll win.' They scored 42. '
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan
On UW's second half run: 'It's a game of 70, 80 possessions, and if things aren't going well on 50 of them, you sure as heck hope the last 30 are pretty good. It's just a mind set that we go with everyday, knowing that there's going to be grinding parts to a game. Teams are going to hit some tough shots. The way it started out in the second half, you thought it was going to be 98-90, one team or the other. Then things settled in a little bit and I thought once we just stuck with our rules and just kept battling each possession that overall we could get into them and get a stretch where we could get a lead and make them do some things a little differently and play off of that. That's the way it happened to work out. It was a good, hard-fought basketball game. That game will help us, I 'll tell you that.'
