Badgers Outlast Wolverines
January 02, 2008 | Men's Basketball
The Wisconsin men's basketball team opened Big Ten play with a 70-54 win over Michigan Wednesday night in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Badgers (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) were led by freshman Jon Leuer who tallied a career high 25 points shooting 8-for-9 from the field, including 5-for-5 from behind the arc. Leuer wasn't the only one hitting the long ball, as a team, UW shot 58 percent from long distance.
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Leuer couldn't miss all night as he tied Trevon Hughes for the most points scored by a Badger this season. While Michigan played a zone defense, the Badgers continued to drive and dish and kept finding an open Leuer who continually knocked down the open shots. Junior Marcus Landry pulled down a game-high six rebounds and scored 15, marking the fourth time in the last five games that he has scored in double figures.
Wisconsin and Michigan started the game slow, there was only one point scored after four minutes of play. The Badgers were up 10-0 at the 13:21 mark and then proceeded to outscore the Wolverines 24-18 through the rest of the first half. UW increased its lead to 20 points (42-22) early in the second half, but Michigan went on a run of their own over a ten minute stretch closing the gap to ten with 10:13 to play.
The Badgers regrouped grabbing rebounds and hitting free throws to slightly increase their lead and hold on over the last five minutes including 5-of-6 free throws from Jason Bohannon with less than two minutes to play. Bohannon finished with ten points on the night, while fellow sophomore Hughes recorded five points and three assists in 28 minutes of play after missing the game against Texas with a sprained ankle.
Michigan (4-9, 0-1 Big Ten) was led by Manny Harris who scored a team-high 16 to go along with three rebounds and three assists. DeShawn Sims chipped in 13 points, four rebounds and three steals in the losing effort.
Wisconsin out-rebounded the Wolverines 35-45 as four different Badgers grabbed at least five boards; Landry (6), Michael Flowers (5), Greg Stiemsma (5) and Leuer (5). As has been a regular all season, the UW defense held its opponent to poor shooting. Michigan only shot 39.2 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from behind the arc.
After shooting less than 60 percent from the charity stripe in the last two games, the Badgers went 19-of-25 (76%) on the night. With the win, Bo Ryan improves to 5-2 all-time in conference openers, winning his last five-straight.
The Badgers return home Saturday, Jan. 5 to host Iowa at the Kohl Center. Tip is set for 11:00 a.m. CT and fans that can't make the game can check it out on the Big Ten Network.
