Yet again early in a conference game, the Wisconsin Badgers (3-6 Big Ten, 10-12 overall) found themselves trailing by double-digits. Redshirt sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl gave UW a quick 3-0 lead over the Michigan State Spartans (7-2, 19-3), but after just under 10 minutes of action the Badgers trailed 22-8 and seemed on track for another blowout road loss.
But Wisconsin continued to chip away at MSU’s lead and a strong start to the second half sliced the Spartans’ lead to single digits. Freshman guard Brad Davison missed a wide-open 3-pointer with 9:21 to go in the game that would have cut Michigan State’s lead to only three, and from there on out the Spartans would pull away. The Badgers, as a result, fell 76-61 as they continued their sub-par play away from the Kohl Center and dropped to 1-7 on the road this season.
Redshirt junior forward Ethan Happ led UW with 23 points and seven rebounds, but Happ was stifled throughout the night by MSU’s physical frontcourt and shot only 7-of-19 from the field. Pritzl added 13 points, but Davison and freshman forward Nate Reuvers struggled on offense and scored less than seven points apiece.
Wisconsin trailed by 17 points with less than six minutes to play in the first half, but a 13-4 run after halftime brought the Badgers within striking distance of the Spartans. UW, however, struggled to contain MSU’s sophomore sensation Miles Bridges, as he scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Sophomore guard Cassius Winston added 17 points, including three crucial second half 3-pointers as four Spartans finished in double figures. Leading by only six points with just over nine minutes to play, Winston buried a triple to stretch MSU’s lead to nine. The Badgers would never come any closer.
Sophomore forward Nick Ward and freshman forward Jaren Jackson Jr. added 12 and 11 points respectively and combined for 18 rebounds as the Spartans’ depth proved too much for a young Badger team to overcome.
Wisconsin has now dropped five of its last six-conference game, with each defeat occurring away from Madison. Luckily for UW, it is now more than halfway into its conference schedule and of its nine remaining games, six of them are at the Kohl Center.
