CHICAGO–While shooting around before the game, Duje Dukan received a warm welcome from a group of United Center security guards. That moment was just the beginning of what ended up being a special homecoming for the redshirt senior forward, who grew up in the Chicago area.
On the same floor where he worked as a ball boy for the Bulls during their heyday in the '90s, Dukan provided a lift that helped push Wisconsin to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament for the fourth consecutive year.
Behind strong performances from senior forward Frank Kaminsky and junior Sam Dekker, the top-seeded Badgers (29-3) outlasted ninth-seeded Michigan (16-16) to pick up a 71-60 victory in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament Friday in Chicago.
Dekker finished with 17 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead the way for the Badgers, while Big Ten Player of the Year and Wooden Award candidate Kaminsky added 16 points and 12 rebounds to record his first double-double in seven games.
However, much like its overtime win over Michigan earlier in the season, Wisconsin got all it could handle from a tenacious Wolverines team.
Michigan came flying out of the gates to start the game, shooting 9-of-13 from the field and getting seven early points from junior guard Spike Albrecht to take a 16-9 lead. The Badgers, meanwhile, couldn’t buy a basket early on, starting just 4-of-12.
The Wolverines would push their lead to nine with 8:11 left in the half after back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore guard Zak Irvin and Albrecht.
But from there, it was all Wisconsin for the rest of the half.
Dekker helped kickstart the stagnant Badger offense, making a dunk, layup and a jumper on three straight possessions to cut the Michigan lead to 24-19.
This marked the beginning of an 18-4 run for the Badgers, which included a thunderous dunk from sophomore forward Nigel Hayes and back-to-back threes from sophomore guard Bronson Koenig that helped electrify the partisan United Center crowd and give them a 31-26 halftime lead.
“We kind of lacked energy a little bit in the first half,” Dekker said. “Some guys made some plays for us, stepped up, brought the energy level of us up, and saw some opportunities to attack and got some buckets going.”
Both offenses came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders, with the two teams combining to score 20 points in the first 4:42 of the second half.
This was followed up by an 8-0 run from the Wolverines, a stretch that included four straight poor possessions from Kaminsky. Kaminsky missed a pair of point-blank and shots and turned the ball over twice, sending him to the bench and giving Michigan a 44-41 advantage.
In need of a spark once again on offense, the Badgers got one from an unlikely source: Dukan.
Having gotten zero points from its bench up to that point, Wisconsin received a game-tying 3-pointer from Dukan, who followed that up with another three and an emphatic drive and dunk. He’s now scored 15 points in the last two games after putting up just 19 in the previous 11.
“Growing up as a kid, I came to games, I worked here as a ball boy, shot around before games,” Dukan said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to play in an arena like especially this one, so to be able to come here and have a good performance, it’s definitely very, very encouraging.”
His effort on offense helped the Badgers weather the Wolverines’ run, and they took the lead for good on a pair of layups from Kaminsky with under a minute to go.
Despite getting a game-high 21 points from Irvin, committing just five turnovers as a team and shooting 51.9 percent from the floor, Michigan was unable to pull off the upset.
The Badgers dominated the glass, outrebounding the Wolverines 34-19 and scoring 17 second-chance points. They also committed just five fouls, which, according to ESPN Stats & Info, is the fewest by any team in a conference tournament in the last 10 years.
“If anybody watched this game you see how talented Wisconsin is,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “They’ve got a great game plan, but their size, their age, their strength, it was a huge part in the game.”
Wisconsin will move on to play in the Big Ten semifinal Saturday at noon, facing 4-seed Purdue.
