They watched as their lead evaporated from 13 points with 4:06 remaining in the first half, to two with 11:15 left in the second. They saw Minnesota sophomore forward Rick Rickert catch fire from the field in the second half, with the big man scoring 13 points on a stunning array of shots. They heard the record crowd of 14,907 grow louder with each improbable Minnesota three-pointer until the Barn shook from its cheers.
With everything pointing towards another Badger road collapse, the UW men's basketball team (11-4 Big Ten, 21-6 overall) weathered the Gophers' (8-6, 16-9) offensive outburst through senior guard Kirk Penney's clutch shooting and pulled away--thanks to near-perfect foul shooting and junior guard Freddie Owens' flair for the dramatic--to win 69-61 and grab sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
In the first half, the Badgers found themselves in unfamiliar territory (at least on the road) as they hit their first six shots and shot more than 60 percent to build a 37-27 lead.
\It was a big confidence booster,"" sophomore forward Mike Wilkinson said. ""To come out and get a lead like that and shoot the ball well here; all that does is raise your confidence for the game.""
Compared to the plodding, half-court tempo of the first half, the second half seemed more like a track meet, and the Gophers got off the blocks first.
After hitting only three three-pointers in the first half, Minnesota hit four in a span of seven minutes, culminating with Rickert's three-pointer that brought the score to 54-52 with 6:21 left.
While Minnesota has left several opponents in the dust this year with similar long-range barrages, the Badgers kept pace thanks to Penney, who seemed to counter each Gopher three with one of his own. The New Zealand native hit four threes in a span of six minutes to keep UW ahead, albeit narrowly.
While Penney's shooting temporarily allowed the Badgers breathing room, UW's solid free-throw shooting helped them close out the game in a manner that was missing from the team in previous road losses.
Late in the second half, freshman forward Alando Tucker repeatedly blew by bigger Gopher players to get to the line three times. Despite the deafening crowd noise, Tucker hit all six of his foul shots. In all, the Badgers went 12-12 from the foul line over the last six minutes of the game.
""I think they were down by two on three or four occasions and we got to the line,"" Penney said. ""That just constantly kept at least a four-point gap in the game and we managed to get the win.""
Even with UW's perfect foul shooting, the game remained in the balance with less than a minute remaining. At the 53-second mark, UW rebounded Minnesota sophomore Maurice Hargrow's free-throw miss and brought the ball upcourt, nursing a two-point lead at 63-61. On the possession, the Badgers ran the shot clock down, but could not get the ball inside to Wilkinson or Tucker because of Minnesota's solid defense.
With fewer than 10 seconds remaining on the clock, Owens found himself with the ball and no other option than to shoot. He launched a three, but had it swatted away. Instead of watching the miss, Owens leapt forward, collected the loose ball and hit a runner near the foul line to give Wisconsin a four-point lead with 20 seconds remaining and remove any doubt about the win.
""The good part was that he might have been fouled, but he didn't look at the official, he didn't get down, he didn't feel sorry for himself,"" Head Coach Bo Ryan said. ""He hustled to get it back, and then we get the bucket. Yeah, that was huge.""
Even with road losses earlier in the season to Michigan and Penn State, in which the Badgers blew huge leads, UW's win Sunday and last weekend's win at Iowa has some convinced that they thrive in late-game situations.
""I think they are one of the best teams in the country at playing ahead,"" Minnesota Head Coach Dan Monson said.
Maybe not the best, coach, but they definitely seem to be improving.
