Four Wisconsin players scored double digits points as the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 78-66 on senior night at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin’s February woes seemingly continued into March as the Badgers came into this matchup after losing their first matchup of the month against the No.13 Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday.
Before tipoff started, Wisconsin honored forward Tyler Wahl during their senior night with a commemorative video of his achievements as well as a standing ovation from Badgers fans in the Kohl Center. Wahl will graduate this spring with a master’s degree in sports leadership.
The first half did not start well for Wisconsin as they found themselves down by as much as nine points halfway through. However, thanks to the Badgers’ guard duo of John Blackwelll and AJ Storr, Wisconsin came back and took a two-point lead of their own by halftime.
Blackwell took advantage of the Scarlet Knights’ physical defense and shot a game-high 10 free-throw attempts. He finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Storr, the Badgers’ leading scorer, scored 19 points with three 3-point shots. He also showed off his athleticism with a left-handed dunk that got the whole Wisconsin bench off their seats.
However, Blackwell and Storr were not the only factors for the Badgers as guards Chucky Hepburn and Kamari McGee came up big for Wisconsin.
Hepburn pestered Rutgers with his on-ball defense and wracked up five steals for the game, the most he’s had since December 12 against Jacksonville State.
In McGee’s first game back from an injury he suffered on Jan. 19 against Indiana, he put on a show by driving to the rim repeatedly and laying the ball up over the taller Scarlet Knights players. McGee finished the game with 11 points and made all five of his shots from the field.
This allowed the Badgers to cruise to a second-half lead that was as large as 19 points and finally win just their second game in their last five.
With the last men’s basketball game at home for the season in the books, the Badgers move to 19-11 overall on the season and 11-8 in Big Ten play. They will travel on the road this weekend to West Lafayette, Indiana, where they will attempt to dethrone the No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday.
