We Meet Again: Badgers Bash Wofford 69-33

MADISON, Wis. - The last time Wisconsin and Wofford met on the hardwood, the Terriers gave the Badgers all they could handle in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. While the Badgers would go on to win that game 53-49, it wasn't pretty by any means.

Fortunately for the Badgers, about two years later the Terriers went a little more quietly this time. After holding the Terriers to just 12 points in the first half, the Badgers held on in the second for a 69-33 win. The Badgers (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) handed the Terriers (1-2, 0-0 Southern) their second loss of the year, helped along by strong performances from Josh Gasser, Ryan Evans, and Jared Berggren.

Gasser lead the way for the Badgers with 16 points and five rebounds, while Berggren set a new career high in points with 13, and pulled down seven rebounds.

Crashing the backboard proved key for the Badgers, who out-rebounded Wofford 43-22 in the game. The Terriers only had six offensive rebounds, and head coach Mike Young knew his team would need to do better than that.

"As I told [the team] before the game, we're going to get a great shot every possession, but it's probably only going to be one," Young said.

For his part, Evans left his mark all across the final stat sheet. The junior forward tallied 13 total points from the floor off of 50% shooting, brought down six rebounds, and had five assists and three blocks in 26 minutes of play. After the game, Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said that Evans' role as an all-around player is key to his team's success.

"[Evans] has the potential to be a good all-around player. Every team needs a few of those that really don't have weaknesses," Ryan said. "Ryan is pretty good at every facet of the game, and his challenge is to always get better at each one."

Keeping up his consistent play will be important for the Badgers this season, who have big shoes to fill in the forward spots after the departures of Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil.

Quiet Night For Taylor

It was another quiet night for Wisconsin's star point guard Jordan Taylor. The senior scored just four points, but only took four shots in 33 minutes of play. However, just because he didn't light up the scoreboard, it doesn't mean anything was wrong with him. Taylor had four assists on the night, and continued a trend of deferring to other players. Evans had high praise for the senior point guard after the game, and mentioned that the Badgers know what Taylor is capable of.

"[Taylor] is someone who's just distributing right now, and instilling confidence in all of us," Evans said. "I really commend him for that, because we all know what he can do, but he's just playing real team ball right now. We know what he can do and what he'll need to do down the line."

Another Game, Another Redshirt

Just two days after freshman guard George Marshall decided to sit out the 2010-2011 season, forward Jarrod Uthoff decided to delay his eligibility by a year as well.

"When it came down to it, I figured I could have a bigger impact on the program in my fifth year than I would in my true freshman season," Uthoff said. "Now I can use this year to develop my skills and get stronger and hopefully be even more prepared when the 2012-13 season starts."

Uthoff would have struggled to find playing time behind Wisconsin's plethora of forwards, specifically Bruesewitz, Evans, Berggren, and Frank Kaminsky.

"Jarrod just turned 18 in the spring, so he's really young for his grade," associate head Greg Gard said. "I think looking at the big picture, he figured out that an extra year is really going to help him physically."

Wisconsin Superlatives

-- The Badgers went on a 19-0 run during the middle of the first half, with the Terriers finally scoring a layup at the buzzer to end a nearly ten-minute scoreless streak.

-- Evans matched a career-high with 13 points, and set career-highs in assists and blocks.

-- Josh Gasser shot 4-for-4 behind the arc for the second time this season, and is 9-of-10 from downtown this year.

-- Junior J.D. Wise scored his first collegiate points with a baseline jumper late in the second half.  

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