Jan. 20, 2010
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Box Score PDF 
MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 18 Wisconsin men’s basketball team (15-4, 5-2) got an unexpected lift from sophomore Rob Wilson en route to a 54-48 over Michigan (10-8, 3-3) Wednesday at the Kohl Center. Wilson snapped Wisconsin out of a cold-shooting streak midway through the second half and tallied a career-high 13 points as the Badgers earned what head coach Bo Ryan called a “gut-check win.”
Senior guard Trevon Hughes also came to life in the second half, scoring 16 of his team-high 20 points after intermission. Junior Keaton Nankivil chipped in 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Thanks to Wilson’s 13 points, UW’s bench out-scored Michigan’s by a 19-1 margin.
| No. 18 Wisconsin 54, Michigan 48 | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| Michigan (10-8, 3-3 Big Ten) | 21 | 27 | 48 |
| Wisconsin (15-4, 5-2) | 18 | 36 | 54 |
| Statistical Leaders |
| Points: Trevon Hughes (UW) 20 | DeShawn Sims (Mich) 23 |
| Rebounds: Keaton Nankivil (UW) 8 | DeShawn Sims (Mich) 13 |
| Assists: Four tied (UW) 2 | Stu Douglass (Mich) 3 |
“Rob Wilson did a great job for us,” head coach Bo Ryan said after recording his 99th Big Ten victory. “With us, we never say it has to come from this guy or that guy. We’ll take it from anybody. But Rob did a great job of recognizing what he could contribute to the team. Offensively he was solid, getting the loose balls, being active, taking shots. That’s really what we needed. We need somebody to take shots.”
In two games against Michigan last season, the Badgers built big leads in the game’s opening minutes scoring over and over on high percentage shots. Wednesday at the Kohl Center, almost the exact opposite was true as Wisconsin missed its first eight shots and began the night 1-for-13. The Badgers also missed their first eight 3-point tries, digging themselves into an early 13-2 hole.
From that point on, UW made seven of its next 12 shots to close out the half and scored the final eight points before intermission. Four different players scored on the 8-0 run with Hughes capping the action on a runner off the glass only seconds before the buzzer. After the cold-shooting start, UW had cut the deficit to just three, 21-18, at halftime.
The Wolverines built their lead back to 10, with a 33-23 advantage six minutes into the second half on a trey from Manny Harris. UW answered with seven straight points, only to watch Michigan’s Stu Douglass drain back-to-back 3-pointers as the Wolverines regained a 39-30 lead.
Sophomore Rob Wilson would not let Wisconsin go quietly, however. Wilson – who came into the game averaging just 2.4 points per game – scored nine of the Badgers’ next 13 points. A pair of free throws from Wilson finally tied the game at 43-43 with 4:04 remaining and brought the sellout crowd to its feet.
“I was just saying that we see glimpses of him in practice,” Hughes said of Wilson. “We know he’s a great player and sometimes when he comes over to the main squad he doesn’t bring it. It was about time for him to come out and play with us today. We needed it and he brought it out.”
“Today was the day I broke out of my shell,” Wilson added.
Harris, the Big Ten’s leading scorer was forced into an airball on the next possession and Hughes gave Wisconsin its first lead of the game on a long two-point jumper from the corner with 3:07 remaining. Harris was held to 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting on the night.
Wilson registered two more points from the free throw line to put the Badgers up by six with 44 seconds remaining. Although Harris reduced UW’s lead to three just seconds later, the Wolverines were not able to find another lead in the remaining 30 seconds. A pair of free throws from sophomore guard Jordan Taylor secured the 54-48 win with seven seconds left on the clock.
“I think they win at home because they’re a good team,” Michigan head coach John Beilein said. “It was a great crowd. They have great coach, they have a great team and they have a system where they don’t beat themselves and that is why they win whether they’re at home or away. They don’t beat themselves and they didn’t beat themselves today.”
The Badgers forced 12 turnovers, while committing a season-low five of their own, including just one in the second half.
Wisconsin will host Penn State (8-9, 0-5) on Sunday at the Kohl Center. The Big Ten Network will carry the action live beginning at 1:30 p.m. (CT).
