Freshman Jonathan Davis scored a career-high 17 points to lead the 19th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers knocked off the Penn State Nittany Lions 72-56 on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
Penn State had ended Wisconsin’s 13-game win streak in the series on Saturday with a 81-71 win over the Badgers. UW got some payback on Tuesday night in the back-to-back series.
The Badgers (14-5, 8-4 Big Ten) have not lost to Penn State at home since 1995 and has won 27 of the last 30 meetings overall.
Brad Davison gave the Badgers a two-point halftime lead (33-31) with a three-pointer at the halftime horn. It was part of an 18-2 Badger run that included two other three’s from Davison, who finished with 13 points for the game.
Micah Potter had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Badgers. Myreon Jones had 14 to lead Penn State (6-8, 3-7).
The Badgers were sloppy, committing 15 turnovers, but 11 of them were in the first half. Coach Greg Gard instructed his team at halftime to slow down in the second half to take better care of the ball.
“His message was just to slow down, hit the brakes a little bit, be composed, make the right reads and just really slow down,” Davis said.
Davis committed six of the 15 turnovers, but hit 6 of his 7 field goal attempts, including a perfect 4-for-4 from three point distance. Davis hadn’t hit a 3-pointer since Dec. 22.
Senior guard D’Mitrik Trice, who was averaging 14.1 points a game, went scoreless, missing all five of his field goal attempts. But Trice had six assists, four rebounds and just one turnover. Backup point guard Trevor Anderson chipped in with 9 points.
Badger coach Greg Gard paid tribute after the game to Ritchie Davis and Tracy Krueger.
The 48-year-old Davis was the director of the Wisconsin Playground AAU club and passed away on Sunday. Krueger was officiating a high school basketball game in Richland Center, Wisconsin on Monday night when he collapsed and died. He was 59.
“Two terrific people who had great impacts on the game of basketball and sports in general in this state.” Gard said. “I’ve known Tracy for almost 40 years.”
The Badgers return to the court on Saturday when they face Illinois in Champaign.