After allowing Northwestern to score 34 points in the first half, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said his team needed to be much better in the second half. The 10th ranked Badgers got the message, allowing just 18 points in the second half, holding the Wildcats to their lowest point total of the season in a 68-52 Wisconsin victory at the Kohl Center.
“I thought we did a better job of stopping the ball and not letting them get in the paint,” said Gard. “I thought the first half, we didn’t execute well enough in some of the ball-screen situations. Second half, we were better. We talked about some of those things at halftime. The second 20, I thought we were more aggressive in the ball screens and eliminated some of that dribble penetration.”
Tyler Wahl led the Badgers (12-3, 6-2 Big Ten) with 14 points and six rebounds. He hit two of his three 3-point attempts. D’Mitrik Trice added 12 points, Brad Davison 11 and Micah Potter had 10. Freshman Jonathan Davis also had eight points and six rebounds off the bench.
Chase Audige had 16 points for Northwestern (6-7, 3-6), which has dropped six straight games. They hit just 6 of 22 from the field in the second half. After scoring 18 points in the paint in the first half, Northwestern managed just four in the second half.
The Badgers improved to 25-2 over the last two seasons at the Kohl Center. They’ve won 17 of their last 18 on the home court. Wisconsin is back home on Saturday to host No. 15 Ohio State on Saturday.
AUDIO: Tyler Wahl said this is the best he’s felt offensively as a Badger :13
AUDIO: D’Mitrik Trice said Greg Gard told them they had to be better on defense in the 2nd half :12
AUDIO: Greg Gard says the second half is the way he wanted to play :22