Rust? What Rust?
On the night that most expected to belong to Wisconsin's two lone seniors, a junior returning to top form stole the stage.
Forward Jon Leuer did just about anything he wanted Wednesday night, leading the Badgers to a 67-40 blowout over the hapless Iowa Hawkeyes. The Minnesota native finished with 18 points, looking like the offensive force he had been before a broken wrist sidelined him for nine games.
""I think each game he's looked a little more comfortable in recognizing game speeds and reactions,"" Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. ""We knew he would struggle a little bit early, getting back on the court, but the game goes on ... You just have to go with his abilities to the point where if he's comfortable, and in a rhythm, he can be a pretty good player.""
Pretty good is just what he was Wednesday.
He finished 8-for-9 from the field, hitting jumpers from the post, both of his 3-point shots and throwing down a trio of dunks. Even outside of scoring he made his presence felt, rejecting three shots and dishing out a quarter of the Badgers' assists (including a picture-perfect one out of the post to sophomore forward Rob Wilson cutting through the lane).
His impact was most visible as the Badgers took over the game early in the first with an 18-0 run. Leuer scored 10 straight with both his 3s and two of his dunks, both coming on pick-and-roll assists as he cut to the rim and guards fed him the ball.
""We did a couple ball screens and Jordan [Taylor] found me on one and J-Bo [senior guard Jason Bohannon] found me on one and I think on the threes I hit, Jordan found me,"" Leuer said. ""My teammates were just finding me when I was open and it makes it easy to score when you have guys that are doing that. That was basically it, just unselfish play.""
That run pushed the game from 12-10 to 30-10, and after that the Hawkeyes never threatened. Iowa scored only 16 points in the first 20 minutes and trailed by 20 or more for the entire second half.
For most of the game, Wisconsin smothered the Iowa offense, holding it below 40 percent shooting and holding the Hawkeye's top scorer, Matt Gatens, to seven points on 3-for-11 shooting.
Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter admitted that his team may have panicked and lost patience early in the game.
""We got anxious during possessions. They got easy scores on our defensive mistakes and we got anxious,"" Lickliter said. ""We know how good they are. We know the situation. We know we're in trouble and your percentage of play goes down. You can't do that.""
At night's end the Badgers had taken advantage behind Leuer and afterwards his teammates were asked if they had seen a glimpse of him in top form.
""I think we did, but at the same time when we got our horse back down there in the paint, it opens up everybody's game,"" senior guard Trevon Hughes said after his final game in the Kohl Center. ""It's harder to double down on him now because we got our sharpshooters that are shooting well and we've been shooting well since the last 15 games. And Jordan's stepped up since Jon's absence and we, having Keaton pick up a bigger role when he was out so now everybody's clicking I feel like.""
