Wisconsin freshman forward Sam Dekker has slowly worked his way into the conversation for Big Ten freshman of the year with four straight games in double figures. But after a career-high 19 points Tuesday against Nebraska, Dekker not only has himself squarely in the driver’s seat for that honor, but may just be positioned for sixth man of the year as well. Checking in just six minutes into the game with the score tied at 8, Dekker helped the Badgers explode on a 24-2 run that erased what had been a 12-11 Nebraska lead and replaced it with a 35-14 UW advantage.
From there, the Badgers (11-4 Big Ten, 20-8 Overall) would cruise to a lopsided 77-46 victory and cross the 20-win plateau for the seventh straight season.
Although the Cornhuskers (13-15, 4-11) are by no means one of the elite teams in the Big Ten, the Badgers played arguably their most complete game in the win. Wisconsin finished with 19 assists on 27 made field goals, hitting 12-of-25 3-point attempts to demoralize the inexperienced Nebraska lineup.
“You could see every time they scored, it affected our energy level,” Nebraska head coach Tim Miles said. “I said in pregame, ‘If they make 3s we’re going to have a tough time.’”
Three Badgers ultimately finished in double figures, with Dekker leading the way. The Sheboygan, Wis., native hit his first three shots before finishing 5-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Dekker also added 4 assists (to just 1 turnover), 1 block and 1 steal.
“Every time Sam had the ball, I ran back,” junior guard Ben Brust said of Dekker’s performance. “I knew it was going in.”
Redshirt senior forward Ryan Evans recovered from a 0-for-5 start to finish with 14 points and 7 rebounds, making both of his free throw attempts in the debut of his new “jump shot” technique at the charity stripe. Brust was in double figures for the seventh straight game, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the UW win.
“We were moving the ball,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “Most of our offense comes from making the extra pass.”
In addition to the offensive display, the Badgers put a clamp on the Nebraska scoring effort at the other end. Wisconsin held the Huskers to just 33 percent shooting, including 27 percent from 3-point range. Nebraska senior guard Dylan Talley did finish with 21 points, but it took him a full 20 shots to get there. Outside of Talley and senior forward Brandon Ubel, the Cornhuskers managed just 15 points on 6-of-30 shooting.
“They’ve got two guys who can attack off the bounce,” Ryan added. “I thought we played extremely well to do what we did tonight.”
Redshirt senior forward Jared Berggren finished with 4 blocks, passing Rashard Griffith to set a new Wisconsin record for career blocks with 126. Berggren’s 4 rejections marked just half of Wisconsin’s blocks Tuesday night, which played a big part in UW keeping its opponent under 50 points for the third straight game.
Having been given a second life in the Big Ten title race with Indiana’s 77-73 loss at Minnesota, the Badgers’ dominating performance against Nebraska was a welcome sight for a fan base all too accustomed to watching UW play down to less heralded opponents. Prior to last week’s victory over Northwestern, the Badgers had yet to post a double-digit victory over an unranked Big Ten foe, despite facing second-half deficits in January matchups with both Nebraska and Penn State, the latter now 0-14 in Big Ten play. Yet with Tuesday’s win, Wisconsin has won three straight Big Ten games by 20 points for the first time in over 100 years (1911-’12).
“I think we have found that cohesion,” Dekker said. “If we keep playing like this, we are going to be tough.”
Wisconsin now heads into its final home game with a very realistic shot to catch Indiana atop the Big Ten race. More importantly, the Badgers seem to be peaking at the right time, playing their best basketball of the year with just a few weeks left until the start of postseason play.
“We’re playing at a high level right now,” Berggren said. “We need [Indiana] to drop one more and we need to take care of our business.”
