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Badgers Post Two Impressive Victories to Open Big Ten Title Defense By Barry The Bear |
IdataSports.com Sports Staff Writer
barrythebear@webtv.net
Posted Sun Jan 11 11:38:07 2004
If the first two games of the 2004 Big Ten season for Bo Ryan and his Badgers are any indication, Wisconsin will THREE=PEAT as Big Ten Champions. The Badgers are now 2-0 in the conference and 11-2 overall following impressive victories over Indiana 79-45 and Michigan State 77-64.
Wisconsin opened Big Ten conference play on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center against Indiana. A team for which dominated the Badgers for DECADES. But..... alas this is far from the Bobby Knight Hoosiers from those days.
The Badgers dominated the game from the opening tip-off. Using a 10-0 run midway through the opening half, Wisconsin opened up an 18 point lead of 28-10. Later Wilkinson would hit his third three point basket of the half to extend the lead to 31-10. The lead would grow to as many as 23 points at 33-10, before Indiana broke a 6:30 scoring drought with a three point basket making it 33-13. Wisconsin had a commanding lead of 37-15 at halftime.
In the second half, the Badgers continued to roll. Morley would connect to give the Badgers a 23 point lead at 43-20. Moments later, Nixon connected for three making it 48-22. Wilkinson stayed hot hitting another three point shot,his fourth of the game to give the Badgers an unbelievable 31 point advantage at 62-31. Devin Harris also showed no signs of slowing down as he too connected for three,followed by two free throws to give Wisconsin a 73-38 lead. During that stretch, Devin Harris scored his *** 1000th **** career points. In the end, Wisconsin rolled for an easy 79-45 victory over Indiana.
On Saturday at the Kohl Center, the scoring spree continued as Wisconsin notched up another impressive victory, this time over Michigan State.
The Spartans were the hot shooting team at the outset, as they made their first seven shots and opened up a 12 point lead at 17-5. But then the Badgers woke up. Harris connected for three making it 17-10, a few moments later it was Harris for three again and Wisconsin trailed by one at 17-16. Eventually the Badgers capped off a 13-0 run and took an 18-17 lead. The lead started to build up for Wisconsin as it grew to 5, then 8,and eventually a 10 point lead at halftime at 41-31.
Wisconsin opened the second half on a 7-0 run and extended the lead to 17 points at 48-31. The Spartans answered that run with a 10-0 run of their own to cut the lead down to 48-41. Wisconsin came back and eventually built it back to a 17 point margin at 67-50. With 2:09 remaining the Badgers led 73-59 and coasted home for the victory by the score of 77-64.
With the victory, Wisconsin is now 2-0 in the conference and 11-2 overall.
>>>>> Wisconsin is now 18-0 at home in the Big Ten AND
>>>>> Wisconsin has now WON 22 STRAIGHT games at Home.
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