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Illikainen leaving Wisconsin basketball

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Alex Illikainen

Wisconsin senior forward Alex Illikainen has left the Wisconsin men’s basketball program, but will remain enrolled at the school.

Illikainen didn’t play in the Badgers’ 85-63 season-opening home victory over Coppin State last week.  Twelve different players appeared in that game, including a pair of walk-ons, but Illikainen didn’t see any playing time.

In 85 career games, Illikainen averaged 1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds.  He averaged 9.8 minutes a game as a freshman, 8.3 minutes a game as a sophomore and 6.8 minutes a game last year as a junior.

Illikainen becomes the second member of Wisconsin’s five-man recruiting class to leave the program.  Forward Andy Van Vliet also left the program and transferred to William & Mary following the 2017-18 season.

Happ leads Badgers over Penn State

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Ethan HappFreshman Ethan Happ recorded his seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 20 points and eleven rebounds to help the Wisconsin Badgers knock off the Penn State Nittany Lions 66-60 in Big Ten action in State College, Pennsylvania on Thursday night.

The Badgers won back-to-back league games for the first time this season as they knocked off Penn State for the eighth-straight meeting.

The Badgers (11-9, 3-4 Big Ten) got  just 23 points combined from Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes.  Freshman Alex Illikainen added nine points and seven rebounds to help the cause.

The Badgers built a 17-point second half lead but saw the Nittany Lions climb all the way back to within three points.  Happ then hit three-of-four free throw attempts in the final 26 seconds to put the game away.

The Badgers are off until Monday night when they return to the Kohl Center to host Indiana.

AUDIO: Greg Gard says they’ll take it :15

AUDIO: Greg Gard says they build their lead by touching the post :19

 

Badgers fall in Big Ten opener

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Motion WThe Wisconsin Badgers gave 14th ranked Purdue a good battle but in the end, it was the Boilermakers who prevailed, winning the Big Ten opener 61-55 over the Badgers at the Kohl Center on Tuesday night.

The game was tied at 24 at halftime and a 7-point run put the Boilermakers in front for good with about 13-minutes left.

The Badgers had little answer for Purdue’s 7-footer A-J Hammons, who scored 24 points to lead all scorers, helping the Boilermakers improve to 13-1 on the season and end a 4-game slide against Wisconsin.

The Badgers got 17 points from Nigel Hayes and freshman Alex Illikainen added 10 points but Bucky fell to 8-6.

Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center on Saturday, playing host to Rutgers.