Nigel Hayes shares a laugh during a game vs. Prairie View A&M
Steve Gotter
50
Prairie View A&M PV 2-5
95
Winner Wisconsin WIS 5-2
Prairie View A&M PV
2-5
50
Final
95
Wisconsin WIS
5-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Prairie View A&M PV 27 23 50
Wisconsin WIS 47 48 95

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Wisconsin cruises past Prairie View A&M

Six different Badgers reach double-digit scoring in win

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Nigel Hayes was 5 of 5 from the field on Sunday. Notably, none of those shots came from outside.

Hayes, who has struggled with his 3-point shot this season, was dominant inside as he scored a season-high 17 points to lead No. 16 Wisconsin to a 95-50 win over Prairie View A&M.

Asked about his concentration on working inside, Hayes insisted he just wanted to work on layups.

"A lot of criticism comes from people who don't know basketball well," he said when asked about his shot selection this season. "If you look at my shots, they're very good shots."

Hayes has hit just 29 percent of his 3-point attempts this season, and the Badgers (5-2) haven't been much better, knocking down 31 percent of their shots from behind the arc coming into Sunday.

But with Prairie View A&M (2-5) starting only one player listed as taller than 6-foot-4, the Badgers didn't need much of an outside game.

They outscored the Panthers 42-18 in the paint and outrebounded them 44-26.

While Wisconsin couldn't find its shooting touch from outside, it more than made up for that with an efficient offensive performance elsewhere. The Badgers hit 24 of their 32 two-point attempts and were 20 of 27 from the free-throw line.

Hayes, who was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line, was one of six Wisconsin players to score in double figures. Ethan Happ had 12 points and 13 rebounds, Bronson Koenig and Zak Showalter each scored 11 points, and D'Mitrik Trice and Khalil Iverson had 10 apiece.

"This is an example of how efficient he can be and how efficient we can be when we don't settle for jump shots at times, don't settle for early threes and really attack the paint," Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said of Hayes.

Prairie View A&M coach Byron Smith said the Panthers were hampered without starters Shay'rone Jett, who he said has an academic issue, and Admassu Williams, who has a knee injury. Both are listed at 6-8 and would have given the Panthers more of an inside presence.

Zachary Hamilton led Prairie View A&M with 15 points.

"They were just too good," Smith said of Wisconsin's ability to neutralize the Panther's 2/3 zone. "You just try to mix it up to do some different things and show them down a little bit."

Up next, the Badgers host No. 18 Syracuse on Tuesday, their third game of the season against a ranked opponent..
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