Wisconsin Baptizes Presbyterian By Fire in 88-43 Win

Ben Rodman. The Rebound Bruster. Benny Bounds.

Call him whatever nickname you want, but Ben Brust is proving his worth in the starting lineup for Wisconsin (3-1) as the junior guard recorded his third double-double in four games, leading the Badgers in a 88-43 trouncing of Presbyterian (0-4).

The Blue Hose struggled all game to contain Brust from the arc and on the boards, as a 6-for-9 shooting performance from deep helped bolster his 20-point, 12-rebound effort.

"What the hell is going on?" Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said in reference to hearing Brust had recorded another double-double.

Presbyterian head coach Gregg Nibert, meanwhile, thought he was seeing double Tuesday night. With his team coming off an 87-58 blowout loss to No. 14/12 Creighton -- a game in which their opponent shot 61 percent from the field -- Wisconsin just multiplied the hurt, shooting 58.8 percent from beyond the arc in the second half and burying 16 threes overall

"[Wisconsin] shot the lights out," Nibert said. "What an unbelievable display of three point shooting and passing … they put five guys around that perimeter and they did a tremendous job."

The Blue Hoses tried to stop the Badgers offensive attack with a 1-3-1 zone, but it was to no avail. Brust showed lethal range, pulling up and draining a three from close to midcourt in one instance, forcing Presbyterian to stretch its zone. For the night, Brust was 6-of-9 from downtown.

Wisconsin also displayed crisp passing around the arc, as well, wearing down a thin squad that only played a six-man rotation.

Six Badgers sunk a three-pointer, including Brust (6), George Marshall (4), Mike Bruesewitz (2), Sam Dekker (2), Zach Bohannon (1) and Frank Kaminsky (1).

Kaminsky and Dekker both displayed strong play off the bench Tuesday night. Kaminsky racked up 10 points, showing a renewed air of confidence in his game that had been lacking in the last two games.

"I was in a little bit of a slump for the past week," Kaminsky said. "I just wanted to go out there, bring energy and play with confidence and it worked out. I just tried to find the soft spot in their zone."

Dekker, on the other hand, continued his solid performances off the bench with another against the Blue Hose. The freshman forward scored more points on the night than he logged minutes, scoring 16 while playing 15.

One of the highest touted recruits to land at Wisconsin in recent memory, Dekker has already become something of a fan favorite in Madison. It was evident against Presbyterian more than ever, as the Kohl Center crowd gasped and applauded noticeably louder every time the youngster made a shot.

"I’m getting more confident in accepting my role out there," Dekker said. "We have a bunch of guys who can be interchangeable and hopefully that’s a sign of things to come, that we can have a bunch of guys come in and we won’t take a dip from having our bench in."

Ryan’s squad also cleaned up its overall game, recording 24 assists to just six turnovers, a marked departure from the previous game against Cornell -- a game that saw Wisconsin sloppily commit 16 turnovers.

"We did some things with our positioning … little things we did a pretty good job with tonight," Ryan said. "I thought they improved, but it’s hard to tell because [Cornell and Presbyterian] play differently defensively."

The offensive woes also continued for redshirt senior Ryan Evans, who shot just 3-for-9 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. The frustration showed on Evans face in the second half as the forward struggled to get anything going.

But his team's 52.4 percent shooting from the field was enough to largely overshadow his poor performance, as players like Brust, Marshall and Dekker shouldered the offensive load.

"We've played a lot of good teams in our five years [of being a Division 1 program]," Nibert said. "That was the greatest display of shooting and passing that I've seen."

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Box Score

Post-game audio: Gregg Nibert Postgame | Bo Ryan Postgame | Brust, Dekker, Kaminsky Postgame