WISCONSIN 77 Northwestern 57 (F)

It was a one man Mike Bruesewitz show for Wisconsin (15-5, 4-3) in the first half.  Ryan Evans and Jason Taylor showed up after halftime and the Badgers coasted to another easy victory over Northwestern (12-6, 2-4) at the Kohl Center.

Despite shooting 54.5% from the floor as a team and 60% from beyond the arc as a team NU still trailed 34-32 at the half.  Bruesewitz helped Wisconsin keep pace with Northwestern behind 5-6 shooting including 2-2 from beyond the arc for a total of 12 points.  No other Badger had more than 5 points.

Northwestern fans dreamed of an upset at halftime, but it was not meant to be after Jason Taylor heated up from behind the arc and helped Wisconsin go on a 14-0 run to bury NU in a 55-38 hole.  With Wisconsin's slow play and stellar defense it was effectively game over from that point on.

Such is life on the road in the B1G especially for NU at Madtown.  We said in our pregame snipet that the Badgers were due to come around on offense, and that came true in the second half of yesterday's game.  Next up is a roadie to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers (14-5, 2-4).  This game presents a real opportunity for not only padding the NCAAs resume with a nice road win but also for position jockeying with another team in the NCAA bubble discussion and sits at 2-4 in the standings.  Unlike some fans we will not go so far as to say this is a must win since kenpom.com projects NU to meet its 9-9 target even with a projected loss at Minnesota.  Never the less a victory would be important to help NU build some cushion for the stretch run.  This game is winnable especially if we can get Marco or Cobb healthy and back into the lineup after not even making the trip up to Madtown.