In the aftermath of Wednesday's 60-54 painful loss to Virginia, Wisconsin set forth a solid first half Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center. Thanks to 12 points by Ben Brust and 10 from Sam Dekker, the Badgers enter halftime with a 37-24 lead over the California Golden Bears.
Cal has a pretty sizable lineup that has out-rebounded each of its first six opponents with an average of 41.0 per game, though Wisconsin holds a slight 17-15 lead in that area. Granted, the the Bears have not been tested nearly as much as the Badgers have; they've played CSU Bakersfield, Pepperdine, Denver, Drake, Georgia Tech and Pacific so far.
Wisconsin came out somewhat cold, taking four minutes to score until Brust nailed a three. That triggered a 19-4 run over the next six minutes. The Badgers enter the break shooting 48.4 percent from the field (15-of-31) and 23.1 percent from 3-point range (23.1 percent). They've also reached the free throw line eight times already after getting there only five times against Virginia -- though they've made just half of those free throws.
Individually, Brust could be in line for his third double-double of the season with five rebounds supplementing this 12 points. Jared Berggren also has five rebounds and nine points.
For Cal, Allen Crabbe -- the Pac-12's scoring leader with 22.0 points per game entering today -- leads with 12 points. Justin Cobbs has five, while Tyrone Wallace leads with five rebounds. The Bears built an 8-0 run leading up to the 2:08 mark to draw closer after trailing by 19 at the 5:02 mark.