The Northwestern Wildcats avenged their Jan. 2 loss to Wisconsin in
Evanston by beating the 14th ranked Badgers 65-56 at the Kohl Center on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats ended a string of 14-straight losses in Madison, winning for the first time since 1996. It also ended a 7-game overall losing streak against the Badgers.
Wisconsin (17-4, 4-4 Big Ten) missed a chance to move into a 3rd place tie with Iowa (16-5, 5-3). Instead, the Badgers find themselves tied for fourth place with Minnesota (15-6, 4-4) in the Big Ten.
Drew Crawford entered the game with a 14.3 ppg average. He poured in 30 points for the Wildcats (11-11, 4-5). Crawford hit 3 of 5 three-pointers and 10 of 15 shots overall, grabbing eight rebounds.
Wisconsin shot 25% in the opening half and finished 26% (15 of 57) for the game. Wisconsin started the night ranked third in the Big Ten in three-point shooting (38.3%), but hit just 20.8% (5 of 24) last night.
Ben Brust had 21 points but hit just 3 of 10 three-pointers and 7 of 18 shots overall. Traevon Jackson had 8 points on 2 of 12 shooting. Sam Dekker hit just 2 of 9 from the field and finished with 11 points.
It was Northwestern that was embarrassed in the first meeting between the two schools. Last night, it’s the Badgers that walk away with their tail between their legs.
The Badgers host Ohio State (16-5, 35) on Saturday at the Kohl Center. The Buckeyes also lost last night, upset at home by Penn State 71-70 in Columbus.