Rough and Tumble Rivalry: Wisconsin, Marquette go way back
December 11, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Mike Lucas
When the Badgers and Golden Eagles meet, it's tough, it's physical and only one team can go home happy
Despite being separated by a relatively straight stretch of Interstate 94, rivals Wisconsin and Marquette have gone back and forth in a longstanding series featuring as many twists and turns as the Golden Eagles have had nicknames. | From Varsity Magazine
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
Wisconsin redshirt freshman T.J. Schlundt, a walk-on shooting guard, has a unique sight line on the Badgers' intra-state games with Milwaukee, Green Bay and Marquette.
That included scholarship offers from both Milwaukee and Green Bay.
But the 6-foot-5, 194-pound Schlundt opted to take a more difficult path — one with no promises or guarantees — by accepting a walk-on invitation from the Badgers.
"In turning them down, you kind of think, 'What could have been?'" Schlundt admitted. "But I'm not looking back with regret or anything. I was ready for a big challenge."
Schlundt also had an opportunity to walk on at Marquette. He visited with Steve Wojciechowski shortly after the former Duke guard and assistant took over as the head coach of the Golden Eagles.
"They offered me the same kind of (walk-on) deal that Wisconsin did," said Schlundt, who added that it came down to a comfort level with the UW program and campus. "I just felt right here."
Nobody on the Wisconsin roster is more connected to the rivalry between the Badgers and the Golden Eagles than Schlundt whose dad, Terrell, was a four-year starter at Marquette.
Terrell Schlundt, a lanky 6-7 perimeter scorer out of Antigo, broke into the lineup as a true freshman for then-Warriors coach Hank Raymonds because of injuries to Dean Marquardt and Oliver Lee.
Overall, Schlundt was a productive contributor throughout his career, averaging 13 points and six rebounds. He scored 30 points twice, including a personal high of 33 against Long beach State.
As a senior, he was selected as a team MVP and co-captain with Glenn "Doc" Rivers. But his individual achievements were secondary to what the Golden Eagles achieved as a group.
Marquette won 80 games and went to three NCAA tournaments and one NIT.
The Schlundt household is not lacking Marquette memorabilia. There's also some keepsakes from Terrell Schlundt's brief stint with the Dallas Mavericks; he was a seventh-round pick in '83.
A framed Terrell Schlundt jersey — No. 33 — is displayed in a workout room of their home. It was a Christmas gift from his wife, Jean.
Terrell and Jean will be at Saturday's game between Marquette and Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. There will be a gathering of family and friends for the annual renewal of the rivalry.
"Last year, he said that he wore neutral colors," said T.J. Schlundt of Wisconsin's 49-38 victory over Marquette last December in Milwaukee. "I'm not sure what that means."
On Feb. 17, 1983, Terrell Schlundt put his signature on the rivalry by scoring 16 of his game-high 19 points in the first half to spark Marquette to a 68-62 win at the UW Field House.
Meanwhile, T.J. Schlundt's earliest recollection of Wisconsin-Marquette came after the family moved back to Wisconsin from Boston. He remembered watching Dwyane Wade. How could he forget?
"He was just phenomenal then," Schlundt said.
In 2001, Wade played his first and only game at the Kohl Center. Limited by early foul trouble, he still managed to score 23 points in 25 minutes.
But he was upstaged by Kirk Penney, who had 33 in the UW's upset win over the previously-unbeaten and No. 14-ranked Golden Eagles. It was Bo Ryan's first win in the series as a head coach.
The following season, Wade had 25 points and led Marquette to a 63-54 victory over Wisconsin. That March, the fan bases crossed paths again at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Minneapolis.
In the first semifinal game at the Metrodome, the Badgers had No. 1 seed Kentucky on the ropes for nearly 39 minutes before breaking down in the closing seconds and losing, 63-57.
The second semifinal pitted Pittsburgh and the Golden Eagles. And while Wisconsin was putting a scare into Kentucky, some of the Marquette fans in attendance were actually cheering for the Badgers.
Not all of them. But some of them. It's the thought that counts, after all.
In the end, Wisconsin had no answer for the Wildcats' Marcus Estill, who had 28 points in the Sweet 16. In the end, by the same token, Kentucky had no answer for Wade in the Elite Eight.
Marquette rode a triple double by Wade — 29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists — into the Final Four (where they were eliminated by Kansas).
""You have to lace them up a little tighter because of the intensity — you know that you're going to get everybody's best shot," Gard said.
Going into the 2003 matchup — the post-Wade era — the Badgers and Marquette were both nationally ranked for only the second time in their long-standing rivalry that dates back to 1917.
(The first time was 1994 when No. 17 Wisconsin, under Stu Jackson, crushed No. 24 Marquette, 71-52. Michael Finley had 14 points and Rashard Griffith and Tracy Webster had 13 each.)
Alando Tucker, who was recovering from a stress fracture in his foot, scored 17 points and hit a clutch shot in the paint over Steve Novak with 45 seconds remaining to lift the Badgers to a 63-59 win.
After the game, Marquette coach Tom Crean acknowledged, "I think everyone knew that it was a lot more than just another game."
That win came on Ryan's 56th birthday.
"When I came here as an assistant (in 1976)," Ryan confided afterwards, "my dream and goal was to be involved in games like this …."
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On Wednesday night, the Badgers opened this season's intra-state slate by playing host to Milwaukee at the Kohl Center. Marquette will follow on Saturday. Green Bay will be here on Dec. 23.
"From a scheduling standpoint, all of these campuses are located relatively close and it's an easy trip," said UW associate head coach Greg Gard, who's responsible for the schedule. "There are a lot of factors that come into play on why they're good games to put on the schedule."
Gard cited the positive influence of these annual jousts with Milwaukee, Green Bay and Marquette from the viewpoint of "what it does for the game of basketball in the state by creating more interest."
From a player's perspective, he said, "You have to lace them up a little tighter because of the intensity — you know that you're going to get everybody's best shot."
That notion was seconded in the UW locker room.
"I feel like they're all kind of rivalries in themselves," said junior point guard Bronson Koenig. "We're going to have to bring it against them because we know that we have a target on our back."
Koenig, who's from La Crosse, has played AAU basketball with Milwaukee's Cody Wichmann, who's from Pulaski, and the Prahl twins, Brett and Alex, who are from East Troy.
Over the summer, Koenig has worked out with Matt Tiby and J.J. Panoske, a Brodhead native.
Many of these in-state players were teammates on the Wisconsin Swing.
"For some of the kids in the state, this is where they wanted to play," said Zak Showalter, a UW walk-on. "So obviously, they want to take it to us and show maybe they deserve to be here.
"We've grown up competing against each other and it's always good to get in some of these games to see how each other has developed during their college careers.
"It will be all business before we can step away after the game and have a little fun. I know my family is looking to meet up with some of their families afterwards."
That "family" theme will continue with Saturday's game against Marquette. Showalter and Golden Eagles 6-11 junior center Luke Fischer were teammates at Germantown High School.
Fischer also played on the Swing with Koenig and Schlundt, who has competed in AAU with Marquette's Sandy Cohen, who's from Seymour, and Duane Wilson, who's from Milwaukee.
Growing up, Koenig and Showalter followed different college players. But they were both fans of former Marquette guard Dominic James, who played with Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews.
James broke Doc Rivers' freshman scoring record and completed his Golden Eagles career with the fourth highest point total (1,749) and the second most assists (637).
"I was a big James fan," Showalter said, "because he was so athletic."
Koenig liked him for the same reason.
"I was a Wisconsin fan my whole life watching Devin Harris," Koenig said. "But I was also actually a Marquette fan. I always rooted for them when they were in the (NCAA) tournament."
Marquette and Buzz Williams recruited Koenig, who also starred at Aquinas.
"I always liked their colors, their jerseys and everything," Koenig said. "When I went on my visit, I bought a really nice Marquette Under Armour sweatshirt.
"But I haven't worn it since I committed here (Wisconsin)."
Koenig knows what kind of game the Badgers will get out of Marquette.
"It's always a battle," he said. "They always bring everything they've got. It's always a tough, scrappy game. It's a good game for us because they're really aggressive."
Of recent vintage, Josh Gasser has represented that scrappiness for the Badgers.
"My first real memory of being a fan," Showalter said, "was Josh Gasser's huge play at the end of a Marquette game where he got a stop."
In 2010, the Badgers knocked off the Golden Eagles, 69-64, at the Bradley Center. Jordan Taylor had 21 points and Jon Leuer had 17 and six rebounds. Jimmy Butler had 15 points for the Golden Eagles.
Wisconsin almost coughed up the lead, though. After Taylor missed a free throw with 7.8 seconds left, Marquette had the ball and could have tied the game with a triple.
But the Golden Eagles never got a shot off. With 2.6 seconds remaining, Gasser imposed his will on others, split a dribble handoff and forced a turnover on Dwight Buycks.
That was Gasser's freshman year. His capped his UW career with a 49-38 victory over the Golden Eagles last season in Milwaukee.
Frank Kaminsky had 15 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Gasser had 12 points. Neither team shot the ball well. It was not pretty. If anything, it was pretty ugly.
At the postgame press conference, Gasser said, "That's a perfect for word for it. But you expect Marquette-Wisconsin games to be a battle — a tough, physical game — and it was."
That rough and tumble characteristic goes all the way back to a 1948 game in Madison.
Marquette, then known as the Hilltoppers, had all five of its starters foul out. Wisconsin lost two players to fouls. All told, the officials called 69 fouls, including two technicals.
Given this physical, no-holds-barred backdrop, it was only fitting that UW reserve Dale Bowers hit a foul shot after time had expired to send the teams into overtime.
Wisconsin wound up winning, 67-63, behind Don Rehfeldt's 23-points. It still ranks as one of the greatest comeback wins in school history. The Badgers rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit.
Wisconsin and Marquette eventually needed a break from each other and the series was temporarily discontinued at the end of the 1953 season.
During the subsequent years, the Badgers continued to dominate their one-sided football series with Marquette — winning by scores of 52-14, 41-0, 60-0 and 50-0.
In 1958, the schools resumed their basketball scheduling.
Marquette dominated the late '60s and '70s, winning 15 straight times over Wisconsin.
It was during that span that Marquette and Wisconsin co-hosted a four-team holiday tournament every December. It was called the Marquette, er, the Milwaukee Classic.
Whether it was the lopsided ticket distribution — and the bad seat locations for UW fans — or simply the home court advantage, the event was decidedly slanted in favor of Marquette.
Since the programs were committing to playing a home-and-home series every year, the Badgers had the challenge of playing three out of every four games in Milwaukee.
The late Al McGuire loved the arrangement.
Ugly. At the postgame press conference, Gasser said, "That's a perfect for word for it. But you expect Marquette-Wisconsin games to be a battle — a tough, physical game — and it was."
A legendary showman and Hall of Fame coach, McGuire was fiercely competitive. If he could get an edge on an opponent, he was not afraid of stepping on some toes. Or fingers, as the case may be.
In 1974, the intense rivals squared off in the old Milwaukee Arena.
The outcome came down to one possession and one shot, a buzzer-beater.
Everybody knew that Marquette star Maurice Lucas was going to get the ball, including Wisconsin's 7-foot Hughes twins, Kim and Kerry, who double-teamed Lucas on the inbounds play.
After juggling the pass, Lucas calmly whirled and launched a dagger from 25 feet. The arena erupted with his game-winning shot. McGuire celebrated by jumping on the scorer's table.
Otto Puls, a former Big Ten football official, was seated at the table and keeping the basketball scorebook for the Badgers — as he has been doing for 52 years.
"Coach McGuire stepped on my hand," said Puls. "Honest."
The following summer, Puls heard back from McGuire.
"I got a letter from him saying that he was sorry," recounted Puls, now 83. "He said that he was a different person on the basketball court and that's not the way he is off the court."
Puls still has the letter. But it wasn't his hand or fingers that became a part of Marquette-Wisconsin lore.
Instead, it was the middle finger on the left hand of Glenn Hughes that punctuated another bitter loss for the Badgers. Hughes was the father of Kim and Kerry.
While McGuire was standing on the table, stirring up the crowd, Hughes was standing a few feet away in the seating area and making an editorial comment with his one-figure salute to McGuire.
A Milwaukee Journal photographer captured the moment for posterity.
McGuire's assistant, Raymonds, was in the background along with a dejected UW coach John Powless, who once-again returned to Madison empty-handed.
"I'm sure that John feels the way I would have felt if I had lost — sick," McGuire said. "We had no right in the world to win."
As far as jumping on the scorer's table, McGuire explained, "I got excited. It was a normal Marquette-Wisconsin game. The best kind."
At least from his perspective, it was the kind that Marquette always won.
Four years later, on Dec. 23, 1978, the late Bill Cofield presented long-suffering Badgers fans with an early Christmas gift: a 65-52 win over Marquette at the UW Field House.
That snapped the long losing streak. Wes Matthews, Larry Petty, Claude Gregory and Joe Chrnelich each scored in double-figures for the Badgers.
"It's great to be the state champion," boasted Cofield, whose coaching staff included assistant Bo Ryan. "There's an event somewhere in every program that makes you viable. That may have been it."
Going into that game, Chrnelich had informed Ryan that he had something planned.
"I promised Bo, 'Look, if we win, I'm jumping on the scorer's table,'" Chrnelich said.
According to Chrnelich, Ryan responded, "Do it. But just make sure we win."
When reminded of that story Monday night during his weekly radio show, Ryan was a little bit unclear on the details so he had his friend, Tim Valentyn, text Chrnelich to make sure the facts were accurate.
Chrnelich was out of the country on business but confirmed the story to Valentyn.
When relayed the information, Ryan nodded with a wry grin.
Moments later, he was banging his drum for the intra-state games.
"It's an extracurricular activity involving student-athletes in competition, why wouldn't we play each other?" he posed rhetorically. "These games really have a buzz around them.
"Why wouldn't you play basketball against the other schools in your state that are in the same division as you are and have the same number of scholarships? Sounds like a pretty good idea to me."
