Wisconsin vs Marquette Basketball Recap

Wisconsin 72, Marquette 63

The in-state encounter between Wisconsin and Marquette is always clamorous and contentious. It's just the way Coach Bo Ryan likes it.

Wisconsin and its tough-as-nails coach received lunch-pail plays down the stretch, as the Badgers used their attention to detail to top Marquette at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Bo Ryan teams are known for taking care of the basics: defense, rebounding, and toughness. Coach Buzz Williams' Golden Eagles fought hard on Saturday afternoon, but not as vigorously as the victors from the Big Ten. With UW clinging to a tenuous 57-54 lead with 7:40 left in regulation, the Badgers delivered the defense their leader expects.

Wisconsin forced three turnovers on the next four Marquette possessions to not only gain momentum, but create transition situations and opportunities for easy baskets. The Golden Eagles have lost a lot of the scoring punch they owned last season, due to the graduations of guards Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal, and Dominic James. Therefore, the boys from the Big East were vulnerable against Wisconsin's relentless pressure, and the Badgers - to their great credit - were able to turn up the heat in the middle of December.

Marquette didn't score for four minutes and 19 seconds, and when MU's Lazar Hayward finally stopped the bleeding with 3:21 left, the visitors from Milwaukee still faced a 65-56 deficit. Marquette pulled within four points (65-61) entering the last two minutes, but that prolonged scoring drought would eventually prove to be too much to overcome.

The defining play of this game - which protected Wisconsin's late lead and ensured that it would hold up - came on the kind of sequence that Ryan loves to see from his players.

Just inside the two-minute mark, the Badgers - leading by only four - worked the ball around the perimeter a half-beat faster than Marquette's defensive rotations. Normally reliable sniper Jason Bohannon missed a 3-pointer from the left wing, but the ball movement distorted the shape of the Golden Eagles' defense. UW guard Trevon Hughes was left underneath the basket in a mano-a-mano duel with MU's Maurice Acker. Hughes boxed out Acker, in a display of textbook technique Bo Ryan surely appreciated. Hughes drew a foul, knocked down both foul shots, and provided the play that ultimately stopped Marquette's last best push.

Defense created a lead. Rebounding preserved it. Toughness secured it. After letting down their guard in a loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Badgers and Bo Ryan regained their identity just in time.

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