Wisconsin Gets Past Florida State 81-66
November 28, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Alando Tucker scored 22 points and Kammron Taylor added 18 as 12th-ranked Wisconsin beat Florida State, 81-66, Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. Brian Butch added 13 points and five rebounds for the Badgers, who have won eight straight at home dating back to last season.
Tuesday night's game was part of the 2006 ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Badgers (5-1) have won their last two Challenge contests at home. Leonard Hamilton lost for the first time in five games as coach of Florida State.
Toney Douglas scored 11 points in the final three minutes for FSU and led all scorers with 24 points. Jason Rich had 12 and Al Thornton added 10 for the Seminoles (4-2), who have lost back-to-back games on the road after winning their first four games in Tallahassee.
The Badgers led start to finish after scoring the first nine points of the contest. Kammron Taylor sandwiched one of his three 3-pointers between buckets by Brian Butch. Florida State's first points came at the 14:55 mark of the first half.
A 10-2 run highlighted by a Butch tip-in at the halftime buzzer gave Wisconsin a 34-23 lead. Butch had eight points and four rebounds in the first half.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Taylor and Joe Krabbenhoft gave UW its largest lead at 55-35 with 11 minutes remaining. Krabbenhoft had seven points off the bench and led Wisconsin with six boards. Wisconsin's bench outscored Florida State's 21-8.
The Badgers were 20-of-29 (69 percent) from the free-throw line compared to 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) for the Seminoles. Tucker was 9-of-11 and is shooting over 74 percent from the line in his last five games (29-of-39).
Thornton had three dunks and eight points by halftime, but suffered from leg cramps throughout the second half and added just two points. The preseason All-American blocked three shots in the first half and jumped over 6'11' Greg Stiemsma to get to the rim for one of his dunks.
Tucker, another preseason All-American was equally impressive. An alley-oop from Flowers to Tucker at the 15-minute mark of the first half capped the 9-0 run. Stiemsma found Tucker cutting to the rim less than two minutes later for another powerful slam.
The 'bigs', Butch, Tucker, Stiemsma and Jason Chappell combined for 10 of Wisconsin's 18 assists. Florida State had eight assists as a team and committed 21 turnovers.
Wisconsin is 77-5 at the Kohl Center under coach Bo Ryan. The Badgers welcome Florida International there on Saturday.
Post-Game Notes
'Tonight's contest was part of the 2006 ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
'UW is 3-5 all-time in the Challenge ' Florida State is 5-3.
'Tonight's attendance was 17,190 ' the 57th consecutive sellout crowd at the Kohl Center.
'UW has won eight consecutive games at home dating back to last season and is 77-5 at the Kohl Center since 2001.
'Tuesday marked the second meeting between Wisconsin and Florida State.
'Alando Tucker scored 10 or more points for the 29th time in his last 30 games. He 's scored 20 or more points 32 times in his career.
'Florida State's first point came at the 14:55 mark of the first half.
'Wisconsin led 34-23 at halftime.
'UW has held first half leads of 22-4, 11-2, 10-0 and 9-0 this season.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan Post-Game Quotes
On how his team executed in the second half: 'They were extending their defense, they were playing from behind and we were patient. We made the good ball fakes, took care of the ball, that's why we shot almost 60 percent; we got good shots. Last five minutes is a little different than that. We still got a couple lay-ups, or a couple easier ones but it just got into a rat game. The rest of the half, the rest of the game, guys played well and made good decisions.'
On Jason Chappell and Greg Stiemsma's assist totals: 'That's perfectly within our system. A lot of times they end up making a play because they catch it in the post or because they're in a position to make that pass and people help to them, and they have good recognition, good player recognition, good bounce passes. Greg and Jason are getting to be pretty good passers from over the top. But that doesn't surprise me. I like thriving on that in the swing and what we run offensively, and we ran some specials out there too where they got a chance out there to make some passes. So bigs that can pass are very valuable.'
On the stretch at the end of the first half: 'It went from three to 11, that was the key, that was the crucial part of the game. Alando (Tucker) gets back on the floor, hits a three right away. I think the trainer told him to go out there and as soon as you get it, take a long shot and see how your vision is. I was kind of surprised he took it. I mean it's in our offense if guys are playing off of him and all that but I thought he'd at least get used to the lights after he got back in. That was huge, and then we got a couple other buckets. I don't know why people don't believe that that was a shot lob at the end from Tucker. You didn't think that was a shot ' It's a play to (Brian) Butch for a tip in. I think we had it all the way. But that was key there's no question. You go from three to 11 at the end of the half, you know we always say it's zero-zero at half time, that was a good momentum shift.'
On Al Thorton's injury: 'He's a good player. I mean he 's a guy that can do a lot of things. We had a couple guys get banged up for some minutes too but you could tell that his effectiveness wasn't the same ' Florida State is a very good team. I know what you're thinking; coaches always say that if they end up on the left hand side. But now Florida State and Missouri State are two teams that had pretty good RPIs, were pretty good teams last year with a lot of guys back and we end up facing both of them. One on a neutral court, one at home but Florida State 's going to beat some people, they're going to beat a lot of people. Like I said, probably that swing at the end of the half that made all the difference in the game.'
Florida St. Head Coach Leonard Hamilton Post-Game Quotes
Opening Statement: 'As good a team as Wisconsin has been over the years here, and obviously as good as they are this year, they didn't need Florida State to come in and turn the ball over the first three of the first four possessions and give them any extra possessions there in the first half. I thought that the 14 turnovers we had in the first half dug a hole for ourselves and made it very difficult to get out of. Wisconsin being the type of team they are took advantage of most of them.
They were solid with their offense and it seemed as though we'd be defending well and they would always find that one person that was out of place. And that's what a smart team would do. They keep executing and keep executing until they find that one mistake that you make and they capitalize on it. I think that is the way they played the first half.
We had a lot of opportunities early and we even turned the ball over, or missed wide open, point-blank shots. You can't do that against a team of this caliber. So you have to give them credit. They had too much execution for us tonight and I thought that we turned the ball over and missed some easy opportunities. We don't have a lot of room for error, not having the type of inside game that we've been accustomed to, so we have to play a lot from the perimeter. That's just not a good combination when you are playing against a team of this size and caliber.'
On Al Thorton's injury: 'Sometimes you get dehydrated early in the game and he was not really as explosive and active as he normally has been. And that 's just one of those things that happens. I don't think it's anything serious. We have some IV's in him and I think he'll get some type of nutrients in his body that will eliminate those cramps. It's not something that is chronic, but it is one of those nights that he came down with. All athletes have them from time to time; it's unfortunate for him, especially playing against a team of this caliber.'
On Thorton's absence affecting the team's second half: 'I 'm not going to use that as an excuse. I thought we dug such a hole for ourselves in the second half that it was very difficult to get out of. I'm sure we would have been better off having him full strength, but I think that you have to give Wisconsin a lot of credit. I just think they executed a lot better than we did.'
