The Wisconsin Badgers did their part in the 2010 ACC/Big Ten Challenge as they defeated the NC State Wolfpack by the score of 87-48. The Badgers (5-2) don’t want to hear about the ACC being the best basketball conference in America because they have won their last six against ACC foes including two already this season (65-55 win over Boston College in Old Spice Classic).
With the win, the Badgers improve to 6-6 in ACC/Big Ten Challenge Games and an astonishing 70-5 at the Kohl Center in regular season non-conference games under Head Coach Bo Ryan.
By: Nick Grays
What It Means: A great bounce-back win for the Badgers who suffered a 58-51 loss to the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the final game of the Old Spice Classic. The Badgers established an early lead and didn’t look back while holding the Wolfpack to a season-low 48 points.
The Badgers also made it an issue to get back to the line. Despite getting to the free-throw line just four times in the loss to Notre Dame, Wisconsin went 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) from the stripe against the Wolfpack.
Player of the Game: Junior Guard Jordan Taylor 
Taylor showed the poise of an experienced point guard on Wednesday night as he contributed 21 points, three assists and two steals all while turning the ball over only once.
Meanwhile, the Wolfpack’s point guard Javier Gonzalez had a horrible night thanks to Taylor. Coming into the game, Gonzalez led the ACC with a 3.5:1 assist to turnover ratio. Taylor made sure that ratio took a hit this time around as Gonzalez committed five turnovers to a mere two assists.
For those of you wondering about the All-World Jon Leuer, no reason to worry, he posted another double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds. Make that 11 career 20-point games and his 14th consecutive game reaching double-digits.
Highlight of the Night: With 9:30 left in the first half, NC State guard Ryan Harrow drove the lane and regrettably
met an emphatic Ryan Evans block which conserved the Wisconsin Badgers 22-15 lead. Evans played 11 hard-fought minutes off the bench with five points and two assists to go along with the block in the first half.
Stat of the Game: Wisconsin locked down NC State defensively by holding them scoreless for a span of 10:12 at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. Over that stretch, the Badgers ripped off a 23-0 run, taking the score from 29-21 to 52-21.
Quotables: “I don’t think we handled it well, I don’t think we handled it well at all,” responded NC State Head Coach Sidney Lowe after being asked about his young squad coming into the Kohl Center.
Bo Ryan addressed how to stop a scoring drought by reflecting back on a Keaton Nankivil dunk which failed to go through the net in a win over Boston College over the weekend.
“Make a basket or two. It has to go through the net and don’t snicker when I say that, because we had one that we thought went through the net and didn’t,” said Ryan.
Leuer even tapped into his inner-David Kay (The Sports Bank college basketball guru) to let everyone know what winning the ACC/Big Ten challenge means to the conference.
“It means a lot. We take pride in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and look forward to it. To win it feels good and it builds our RPI for the conference, a definite positive. Overall, a great thing for the conference,” said Leuer.
What’s Next: The Badgers next game will welcome the South Dakota Coyotes (2-4) into the Kohl Center for a 1:00 PM affair on Saturday, December 4th. The Coyotes are led by Junior Charlie Westbrook who averages 16.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Westbrook is from Milwaukee where he attended Riverside University High School. Apparently, the Badgers and Marquette basketball team like to share common opponents because South Dakota fell victim to the Golden Eagles 82-69 on November 20th in Milwaukee.
What do you think of the Badgers’ recent domination of ACC opponents? Let me know by commenting below!
Rapid Reaction Archive:
Wisconsin 99 Prairie View A&M 55 (11-14-10)
Wisconsin 85 North Dakota 53 (11-16-10)
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