While Alando Tucker said Wednesday night's dismantling of Michigan was \one of the most complete performances"" the Badgers had put together this season, Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan was not so quick to jump on his star forward's bandwagon. But the coach still had his player's back.
""[Alando]'s young,"" Ryan said. ""Maybe that is the best he's seen. You know what, if players feel good after a game, that's a good sign. I'll take that. It was a complete game. If you look at how we took care of the ball, we found open people. If he says it and he feels it, I'm with him.""
Complete game or not, No. 20 Wisconsin (8-4 Big Ten, 17-6 overall) found the open man and a whole lot more in their 76-50 work-over of Michigan (3-9 Big Ten, 12-14 overall). The Badgers displayed the ball movement and control offense Ryan has made the norm in Madison en route to recording a conference season-high 20 assists.
The Badgers forced the issue from the tip against the Wolverines. Senior guard Sharif Chambliss missed a jumper on Wisconsin's first possession and Michigan junior center Chris Hunter answered quickly for the Wolverines, snagging an errant 3-pointer and putting down the easy dunk. But Hunter's dunk marked the only time Michigan would lead in the game.
Senior forward Mike Wilkinson scored Wisconsin's first six points as the Badger's first seven field goals came off assists. Wisconsin went on an 11-0 run midway through the first half while and held Michigan scoreless for more than 6 and-a-half minutes. The Badger fast start was one reason Wolverine head coach Tommy Amaker explained the lopsided 37-17 half-time score.
""I thought, in the early stages of the game, we really struggled to put the ball in the basket,"" Amaker said. ""I thought [Wisconsin] got out of the box early shooting the 3-ball. That really put us on our heels and it really went downhill from there for us. I thought our kids lost a lot of energy that we had and sometimes it's very hard to sustain that defensively, when you are struggling to score.""
Michigan struggled from the field in the first half, shooting an abysmal 33 percent from the field and 0-of-8 from behind the 3-point line. It was a completely opposite story for the Badgers as Wisconsin made 6-of-11 from downtown and hit nearly 45 percent of their shots from the floor. Even more impressive was the fact that the Badgers tallied 10 assists on 13 first half field goals.
Wisconsin established the post early and often. Wilkinson scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the first half as the Badgers made a concerted effort to feed the ball into the post. That opened up the perimeter for Wisconsin's perimeter shooters, especially senior forward Zach Morley, who was back in the line-up and close to 100 percent. Morley scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half alone and looked like he had regained some of his shooting touch.
The Badgers had two straight possessions in the first half, getting the ball into the post to have the big men kick it out for the open 3-pointer. Wisconsin was helped when Hunter went out early in the first half after re-activating an ankle injury, weakening an already injury-plagued Wolverine team.
Michigan started hitting shots to open the second half, but it was too little too late. Wisconsin pushed the lead to as high as 30 mid-way through the second half and the Badgers early run made up for deficiencies at the line.
""They came out in the second half with a lot of intensity and a lot of pressure and wanted to get a lot of things done,"" Wilkinson said.
Michigan picked up the scoring, as sophomore guard Dion Harris-who was 1-of-8 from the field in the first half-and sophomore center Courtney Sims picked up some of the slack for the Wolverines. Sims led the Wolverines with 16 points and Harris chipped in 15, but they were the only two Michigan players to crack double digits.
Wisconsin had four players in double figures, two of which came off the bench. Morley had his 12 and junior forward Ray Nixon added 10 points off of 3-pointers and cleaning up the boards. With the game far out of reach late in the second half, many seldom-used Wisconsin players received quality playing time. Sophomore forward Jason Chappell logged eight minutes and freshman center Greg Stiemsma scored four points in five minutes of action.
With seven days off before the Badgers head to East Lansing to face No. 10 Michigan State at the Breslin Center, Wisconsin needs to be able to rely on a bench, thinning due to injuries.
""Just looking at it overall, everybody contributed,"" Tucker said. ""Jason Chappell got in the game, Greg Stiemsma, they were all able to contribute. When all 12, 13 guys can contribute that is complete.""
