Feb. 2, 2005
Box Score
MADISON, Wis. - Kammron Taylor's 18 points led five Badgers in double figures, and No. 19 Wisconsin beat Northwestern 73-58 Wednesday night at the Kohl Center.
The game was the Badgers' first at home since last Wednesday, when they had their nation-leading 38-game home winning streak ended by No. 1 Illinois.
Wisconsin (15-4, 6-2 Big Ten) jumped out to an 11-2 lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers by 6-foot-11 center Brian Butch (12 points) made it 20-11, and Mike Wilkinson's three-point play gave the Badgers their first double-digit lead at 25-15.After the Wildcats (9-11, 2-6) pulled to 25-21 on Davor Duvancic's driving basket, the Badgers responded with a 17-5 run to end the first half with a 42-26 lead, capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Taylor.
But the Badgers came out cold in the second half, making just four field goals over the first 16 minutes and allowing the Wildcats to stick around with hopes of an upset.
T.J. Parker's 3-pointer with 8:17 left capped a 9-2 Wildcats run that cut the Badgers' lead to nine points at 54-45. Another trey by Parker made it 57-49 with just more than seven minutes left. However, just seconds later, the Wildcats' leading scorer Vedran Vukusic, was whistled for his fifth foul while defending on the press. That fouled him out of the game with just nine points -- less than half his average in Big Ten play, and marking just the second time this season he did not reach double digits in the scoring column.
Northwestern remained game, though; the Wildcats pulled to within 58-51 on Tim Doyle's two free throws with 5:57 remaining.
The Badgers were 4-of-14 from the floor in the second half to that point, but Sharif Chambliss hit a three-pointer and Clayton Hanson sank a jumper to make it 65-51. The Wildcats were unable to threaten after that.
Junior guard Mohamed Hachad saw his team-leading streak of 61 consecutive starts come to an end Wednesday night, but he responded to coming off the bench in fine fashion -- he led NU with 14 points and was 6-of-8 from the field. Hachad was the only Wildcat player to score in double figures; by contrast, Wisconsin had five accomplish the feat.
Northwestern is home this weekend, taking on Purdue in the final Welsh-Ryan Arena appearance of outgoing Boilermaker coach Gene Keady. Saturday's tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.