Badgers Complete Wisconsin Sweep
December 13, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Alando Tucker scored a game-high 20 points and Brian Butch added 11 points and eight rebounds as No. 7 Wisconsin improved to 10-1 with a 68-49 win over UW-Milwaukee Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. The Badgers improved to 80-5 at the Kohl Center under head coach Bo Ryan and equaled their best start in Ryan's tenure.
With the win, the Badgers have swept their three in-state Division I rivals for the second consecutive season. UW beat UW-Green Bay on Nov. 15 and Marquette last Saturday.
Tucker, the Big Ten's leading scorer heading into tonight's game, picked up where he left off against Marquette. He had 15 points in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting and reached 20 points for the seventh time this season.
Wisconsin scored on four of its first five possessions and jumped out to a 9-0 lead. The Badgers never trailed and led by as many as 22 points in the second half. UW-Milwaukee (2-10) trailed 35-20 at halftime and never got within 14 points the rest of the way.
Avery Smith, the Panthers leading scorer heading into the contest, took eight shots and scored eight points. Paige Paulsen led UWM with 13 points.
Tucker's night was highlighted by a pair of dunks in the first half. He had a steal and a breakaway, one-handed slam that gave UW a 14-9 lead. On another fast break, Jason Bohannon finished a two-on-one with an alley-oop to Tucker that made it 30-16 with just over three minutes to play in the opening half.
Bohannon didn't play against Marquette, but saw the court for 20 minutes against UW-Milwaukee. He and Jason Chappell finished with eight points. Kammron Taylor made it three Badgers in double-figures with 10 points. Michael Flowers added seven points.
Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan Post-Game Quotes
On the senior's performance: 'Those guys have been in these state games before, and we knew it was going to be a grinder. Rob, his guys worked the ball real well. They were trying to get good looks; they were trying to touch the post. They were moving it well from side-to-side. The upperclassmen, they were a little more patient as you can tell, because they have been through these types of games before. Consistency comes with age, normally. As soon as somebody has a good game and they're younger, everybody goes bonkers about them. The next game might not be the case again. I don 't worry about that, I just keep probing. I just keep looking to the bench, the starters, whatever; get some rotations going. You can tell the guys in a favorable match-up. You can tell things going on. I'm probing for that all the time. If it 's seniors, so be it.'
On Wisconsin's 11-0 run in the first half: 'Sometimes runs like that happen at different times. It just happened to be at that time. For me to comment on it and say that is how we had it planned, I mean those were the opportunities that we had. We got the ball in pretty good position. Tuck knows how to finish around the paint; he had some good looks inside. And we got some other good looks too. We got some separation. '
On his team's performance: 'We still took pretty good care of the ball. We didn't allow too many easy baskets. So they stuck to the principles on defense. They had to hit some tough threes in the first half to get the first nine points because we took certain things away. The bigs were open and they knocked the threes down. We can 't get too upset about that, you just keep playing. But what I like is, it was a grinder.'
UW-Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter Post-Game Quotes
On Wisconsin's potential: 'They have the length and the size to battle with bigger teams, and they create mismatch problems with Alando, and I think Marcus Landry can be a match up problem. Their young guards are giving them quality minutes, and the development of Michael Flowers and Kam [Kammron Taylor] has been outstanding. They have the size, and they have intangible guys with Krabbenhoft. They've got a little bit of everything.'
On the rivalry between schools within the state of Wisconsin: 'There are quality teams here in the state. There are quality programs with a lot of pride and tradition in every university. The games should be played. We're all competitors, we all like to have fun, we've all played at one point, and the fans like to see it, so it's a privilege and it's an honor, and it's something that should be. I enjoy it, and look forward to playing all the teams in the state next year. It's going to be fun.
On what he learns from watching Bo Ryan 'Now I watch more how he handles himself on the sidelines, being a head coach. As an assistant, I would watch how he handled players, and how he would motivate guys, and how he would make decisions during games. He sticks to the principles, he sticks to the basic values of his program, and that means he'll take care of the basketball and he's not going to give you extra opportunities. He 's going to try and create those by getting to the free throw line and getting offensive rebounds, and your team [Wisconsin] is exactly that. When you take a look at the fouls that some of these guys have on them- I think Kammron Taylor has a couple on the year, and Tucker has only a couple on the year- it's amazing.'
