Harris Leads Badgers to 80-66 Victory Over Gophers
February 04, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Devin Harris scored a career-high 38 points in leading Wisconsin to a 80-66 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. The victory, which extends UW's home winning streak to 25 games, improves No. 14 Wisconsin to 15-3 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. The school record is 33 games from March 8, 1911 to Jan. 23, 1918. The Gophers are 8-12, 0-8 in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin's 6-1 start to conference play is its best beginning since opening the 1962 conference season 7-1.
Harris, a midseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award, had his second 30-point performance in the last three games and his third consecutive 20-plus point game. During those games, Harris has scored 97 points, averaging 32.3 per game hitting 28-of-39 from the field and 27-of-31 from the free throw line. Harris went 10-for-12 from the field Wednesday, including 5-of-7 from the three-point range and 13-of-14 from the charity stripe. Harris's performance marks the most points scored by a Badgers in a game since Michael Finley's 42 points at Eastern Michigan Dec. 12, 1994.
Senior guard Freddie Owens rejoined the starting line-up after being sidelined with a foot injury for the last three games, contributing six points.
After the Badgers jumped out to an early 10-2 lead, the Gophers went on a 8-2 run to pull within two points to make the score 12-10 with 12:15 to go in the first half. Wisconsin replied with a 13-3 charge to go ahead 25-15. The border battle continued as Minnesota wrapped up the first 20 minutes with a 7-0 run in the final minutes of the half, sending the teams to the locker rooms with Wisconsin ahead 33-26.
Minnesota came back from the break charged and started the second frame with a 13-3 run. The U of M grabbed the lead for the first time in the game with a Ben Johnson jumper five minutes into the second half to put the Gophers ahead 37-36. The lead changed three times in the next three minutes before Wisconsin pulled away with a 14-5 run to hold a 54-46 advantage with 9:24 remaining in the game. Wisconsin stayed strong as they stretched their lead to as many as 18 in the final moments of the game as they were on their way to victory their sixth straight victory over Minnesota.
Wisconsin capitalized on second chance opportunities, converting 12 offensive rebounds into 16 points.
Freshman forward Kris Humphries, who is averaging 22.2 points per game, led UM with 24 points.
Wisconsin looks to continue its winning ways as they head to Evanston, Ill., to take on the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday, Feb. 7. Tip-off is set for 1:32. The game will be televised regionally on ESPN.
Minnesota at Wisconsin
Feb. 4, 2004
Kohl Center, Madison, Wis.
QUOTES & NOTES
COACHES QUOTES
Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan
On Devin Harris' recent performances:
'Devin got a lot of good things done tonight. I think if you try to analyze [he's recent scoring streak] too much, that's where you run into problems. When he was having trouble shooting we didn't try to over analyze that. Basically, it comes down to taking good shots. And if you're in transition and you can get to the rim, that's a high percentage shot. Look at the way he handled the ball and not one turnover; he's listening, he's observing, he takes notes, he studies the game, he's attentive to everything we give him. And that makes it a joy to be around people like that.'
On Zach Morley's Performance:
'He finished on a couple plays and he attacked the baseline, he attacked the gaps, he attacked the rim. When you do that you're `gonna get some fouls called and you'll get to the free-throw line. He and Mike got us to the double bonus because they attacked the rim better in the second half.
Minnesota Coach Dan Monson
On how much better team performance was than last Saturday:
'I was pleased with our mindset. I told my assistants before the opening tip that just the intensity of our guys in the huddle before the game started that if we would have had this Saturday, we would have won. I think we had energy and competed a lot better, and again, we're 0 and whatever but we've been in every game. It just doesn't make it any easier. Today we had a lot more competitiveness. I said with Purdue, we're tied with five minutes to go at Purdue, go overtime with Indiana, go overtime with Michigan State. The only game I've been disappointed in in the last three weeks is the game at Northwestern. I thought today we battled. I thought we competed and Devin Harris was too much. He's an NBA player. I think he's the best player in his league for a reason. When they were struggling, he put them on his back. When one guy shoots more free throws than the whole other team, it can be tough on the road to overcome.'
On making a run after being down by 14 points in the first half:
'We were down 14' When was that' I must have been talking to the refs. I just thought our guys competed, I thought they scrapped. I just thought they got back from being on the defensive end. The zone was something that we try to sell our guys on. When you hang in there in the zone and you get them frustrated, and I think we had some of them but we never got to Devin (Harris). Devin never got frustrated and he kept his composure against them. But they did have probably more turnovers than they're probably used to against it, and I think they had a couple in that run and we were having trouble scoring at that point. I told them that we 're going to have to get some, what we call primary baskets out of our zone, some run-outs, and I thought we were able to do that in that stretch.'
POSTGAME NOTES
' Wisconsin has now won 25 straight home games, the longest current home winning streak in the Big Ten. It is the second-longest home winning streak in school history. The school record is 33 games from March 8, 1911-Jan. 23, 1915.
' Wisconsin is now 40-2 overall in home games during the Bo Ryan era. That includes a perfect 21-0 mark in Big Ten home games under Ryan (that is the school record for consecutive home conference wins).
' Badger guard Devin Harris finished tonight's game with a career-high 38 points. That ties Harris for the fourth-highest single-game scoring performance in school history. He is the first Badger to score 38 points in a game since Michael Finley scored a school-record 42 points at Eastern Michigan on Dec. 10, 1994.
' It was his second 30-point performance in three games. Harris has scored a total of 97 points in his past three games and has broken the 20-point barrier in three straight games for the first time in his career. In the past three games, Harris has averaged 32.3 points, made 28-39 (.718) from the field and 27-31 (.871) from the free throw line.
