Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ combined for 41 points and 17 rebounds, helping the 10th ranked Wisconsin Badgers end a two-game losing streak with a 71-60 win over Maryland at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers trailed the 24th-ranked Terrapins by six points at halftime but dominated the second half to pull out the win.
Both teams dealt with foul trouble throughout and the Badgers dealt with poor shooting in the first half before turning things around.
Wisconsin failed to shoot 40% or better in five of their last six games and started Sunday’s game by hitting just 28% from the floor (7 of 25) in the opening half. But this time the Badgers rebounded, shooting 51.5% (17 of 33) in the second half.
The Badgers (22-5, 11-3) moved into a tie with Purdue (22-5, 11-3) for the Big Ten Conference lead, although the Boilermakers hold the tiebreaker over the Badgers based on their head-to-head victory in West Lafayette last month.
Maryland (22-5, 10-4) fell a game behind the Badgers and Boilermakers in the conference race.
Hayes led the Badgers with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Happ added 20 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Bronson Koenig returned to action, coming off the bench to score 9 points.
The Badgers play a pair of road games this week, at Ohio State on Thursday and at Michigan State on Sunday.
AUDIO: Greg Gard on the win 15
AUDIO: Greg Gard says they were better in the second half :15
AUDIO: Nigel Hayes said they had a much bigger sense of urgency in the 2nd half :18