Nigel Hayes
The 3rd-ranked Wisconsin Badgers moved into the round of 32 by cruising to a 86-72 win over Coastal Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday night.
Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes combined to scored 38 points on 15 of 25 shooting to help the Badgers build a 15-point lead at halftime (47-32). The trio finished with 62 points on 24 of 41 shooting.
Kaminsky led the way with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Sam Dekker came out of his 3-point shooting slump, hitting 4 of 8 from distance to finish with 20 points for the game. Nigel Hayes added 15 points and eight rebounds with seven of the eight boards on the offensive end.
The Badgers led by as many as 24 points in the second half when Bo Ryan pulled his starters. The Badgers were sloppy in the second half, something Ryan wasn’t happy about.
Next up for the Badgers (32-3) is a rematch of last year’s third round matchup with Oregon at the Bradley Center. The Ducks are the 8-seed and advanced with a 79-73 win over Oklahoma State.
Last year, the Badgers came from 14 points down to beat Oregon 85-77 on their run to the final four. Oregon’s Joe Young, who scored 29 in that game against Wisconsin last season, finished with 27 points in the win over Oklahoma State on Friday.
The Wisconsin-Oregon game will tip-off at 6:45 Sunday night (truTV) from Omaha.