D’Mitrik Trice, Wisconsin surge past Oklahoma in 78–58 win

After only leading by three at halftime, the No. 25 Wisconsin Badgers went on a huge second-half tear in a 78–58 win over the Oklahoma Sooners in a Thanksgiving Day Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal contest.

Wisconsin (5–0) shot 59.3 percent from the field (16 of 27) in the final 20 minutes, including hitting eight of nine from deep.

Redshirt sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice once again led the charge, scoring a career-high 25 points. He hit seven of eight shots from three-point range, along with contributing four assists and three rebounds in the win.

Redshirt senior forward Ethan Happ recorded yet another double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. The AP preseason All-American also dished out five assists with a steal.

Oklahoma (4–1) committed 15 turnovers in the loss despite shooting 47.1 percent (24 of 51) from the field. The Sooners did only make five of 11 attempts from the free-throw line. Senior guard Christian James scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, while fellow guard Aaron Calixte was the only other Sooner in double figures with 10.

Wisconsin only held a 31–28 advantage at halftime and actually had to go on a 6–0 run in the final 82 seconds to regain a lead.

The Sooners brought the game back within two points after a Brady Manek three-pointer tightened the UW lead to 33–31 early in the second half, but the Badgers fought back on a 12–3 run in a three-and-a-half-minute span. Kobe King’s layup at the 15:21 mark made it 45–34 Wisconsin.

King scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. Sophomore forward Nate Reuvers followed up his nine-block performance vs. Stanford with 12 points, but just one block.

From that point on in the second half, Greg Gard’s squad would not allow Oklahoma to cut the lead lower than eight points. UW’s largest lead extended to 21 points after Trevor Anderson’s layup with 11 seconds left in the game.

In that second half, Trice hit four of his five three-pointers on the way to 14 of his 25 points on the afternoon. Happ also dropped 12 of his 14 points in the those final 20 minutes to help pull away from the Sooners.

For the game, Wisconsin shot 47.5 percent from the field (28 of 59) and a ridiculous 63.6 percent (14 of 22) from behind the three-point arc. After being out-rebounded in the first half 22–15, UW doubled up Oklahoma on the boards in an 18–9 fashion.

After only having two assists as a team on Wednesday in the win against Stanford, Wisconsin recorded 16 against Oklahoma while only committing eight turnovers.

Up next for UW is No. 4 Virginia for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament title on Friday (1 p.m. CT, ESPN). Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers beat Dayton 66–59 on Thursday to advance to the final.