5 thoughts from Wisconsin basketball's blowout win at Penn State
Make it five in a row for the Badgers.
There wasn’t anything questionable about Nolan Winter’s performance on the Rec Hall court.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball program listed Winter, its standout junior big man, with that designation leading up to its Thursday night matchup at Penn State. He started and recorded yet another double-double as the Badgers cruised to a 98-71 win against the Nittany Lions in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Winter’s 13-point, 10-rebound performance is his ninth time double-double thus far this season, his third in his last six games.
Here are other takeaways from the lopsided road victory.
Wisconsin did what it was supposed to do against a floundering foe
Penn State’s winless in the Big Ten and hasn’t recorded a victory since Dec. 29. But Wisconsin (14-5, 6-2 Big Ten) made sure to leave no doubt relatively early in the contest. The Nittany Lions led 13-12 with 12 minutes, 6 seconds to play in the first half, but the Badgers outscored them 38-9 the rest of that half. There was an initial 13-0 run concluding with a Nick Boyd layup at the 8:44 mark which gave Greg Gard’s team breathing room.
Wisconsin held Penn State to 35.9% overall shooting on the night, 29.6% from 3-point range. The Badgers also played clean with only seven turnovers committed, and they asserted themselves in the rebound column by a 44-35 margin.
Another great performance off the bench for Braeden Carrington
Carrington finished tied for a team-high 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting in about 16 minutes of action. All of his scoring came in the first half, which included draining 4 of 5 from 3-point range in 11 minutes. He scored nine points in a 73-second span.
It’s the third time in the last four games that he’s registered double figures.
More great shooting paired with great passing
Wisconsin continued shooting the ball well, hitting 36 of 71 (50.7%) from the field and 15 of 35 (42.9%) from deep against Penn State. What really stood out was the crisp passing and how the Badgers recorded 25 assists to those 36 field goals made, led by guards Andrew Rohde (six) and John Blackwell (five).
Rohde shined on the road Thursday, not just dishing out those half-dozen assists but scoring nine points and swiping two steals from the Nittany Lions.
Other notable stats from the win
Points off turnovers: Wisconsin 16, Penn State 6
Bench points: Wisconsin 44, Penn State 33
Points in the paint: Wisconsin 42, Penn State 18
Fast break points: Wisconsin 19, Penn State 10