TUSCON, Ariz.— Said by many to be the trendy pick to be upset in the second (formerly first) round of the NCAA Tournament, Wisconsin came out like a team on a mission and shot their way to a 72-58 win over 13 seed Belmont. The victory snaps a 2-game losing streak for the Badgers and puts them one win away from a Regional appearance.
Though the Badgers spent the majority of the second half holding a comfortable lead, it was the Bruins (30-5) who controlled the game in the early going. Taking advantage of seven UW turnovers in the first half, Belmont was not only able to hang with the Badgers early, but in fact held a two-point lead with four minutes left in the first half. But once senior forward Jon Leuer hit his first three-pointer to give UW another lead, there was no turning back.
Leuer's triple began an 11-2 run to finish the half that gave the Badgers a 7-point halftime lead. Though Belmont shot their way within four just over six minutes into the second half, the Badgers came out of a UW timeout and after Keaton Nankivil's missed three-point shot was tipped back, Jordan Taylor found sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz wide open in the right corner for a dagger that pushed the lead back to seven. Ultimately, Belmont would get no closer as UW bumped their lead to as much as 18.
""That play was so huge,"" Taylor said. ""Tim just you know, the same thing coach always talks about staying on the glass, staying aggressive, staying in the play and that has to be one of the biggest plays of the game. It's a four point game and Tim keeps it alive and Mike makes a great shot. Just a lot of aggressive play on our guys' part and it's huge.""
Coming off of a nasty looking injury sustained in Friday night's Big Ten Tournament loss, Bruesewitz's contribution off the bench had an enormous impact.
""It was huge for us,"" Leuer said after the game. ""He came in right off the bench, got an offensive rebound, put it back in, like, behind his head. And I saw the guys on the bench get pretty excited about that. Especially, you know, after what he's been through and he's battled back.""
Despite the positive outcome, there were definitely aspects of UW's performance that need to improve come Saturday. In no small part caused by the pressuring style of Belmont's defense, a defense that forced nearly 20 turnovers per game during the regular season, UW committed 13 turnovers, six more than their season average. Those 13 turnovers led to 16 Belmont points.
""Now we got a quick turnaround,"" UW head coach Bo Ryan said. ""We can't really change the way we play. Coaches would always like a little more time to prepare for a team. So we got to see in the second round here if we can get the guys to understand in a short period of time what it is that our next opponent likes to do.""
With room to improve and yet plenty to be proud of, the Badgers now look forward to a matchup with the winner of the ongoing game between Kansas State and Utah State. Tip off on Saturday will be announced on Friday. ""We won't be getting too revved up about this,"" Ryan said. ""What we got to do is get ready to see who wins this second game and prepare for Saturday.""
