The Wisconsin men's basketball team routinely faces one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the country. The Mastodons of IPFW are not one of the reasons why, however.
The Badgers built a 39-18 halftime lead and never looked back, winning their regular season opener handily, 75-46. Jon Leuer led Wisconsin with 19 points and also posted four blocks and pulled down six rebounds. IPFW head coach Dane Fife was impressed with the junior forward's effort.
"He did exactly what we expected tonight," Fife said. "Watching Leuer grow as a player has been impressive. We didn't defend him the way we were supposed to."
Wisconsin shot 57 percent from the floor. Jason Bohannon and Tim Jarmusz combined for five three-pointers. The Badgers probably could have scored even more, but only took 20 shots from the field in the second half, as the game was no longer in doubt.
Wisconsin's defense was stingy, holding IPFW under 30 percent shooting through the first 20 minutes. The Badgers blocked 11 shots.
The only Mastodon to find any scoring success against Wisconsin was Jeremy Mixon. He finished with 17 points off the bench.
The Badgers next face Oakland Wednesday night.
We'll have more analysis on the season-opening victory later on Bucky's Fifth Quarter.