Wisconsin outlasts Iowa in 72–66 win

The No. 22 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team overcame foul trouble in the frontcourt and persevered late in a 72–66 win over the No. 14 Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Friday night.

Redshirt sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice again showed the clutch gene, scoring a game-high 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field (4-of-8 from three-point range) and also grabbed seven rebounds. Before fouling out with under a minute left in the game, redshirt senior forward Ethan Happ recorded 13 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

Stepping up on the road, redshirt junior guard Brevin Pritzl scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Though he only connected on two of six attempts from deep, a key one with 95 seconds remaining gave the Badgers a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the game.

Wisconsin (7–1) shot 48.2 percent from the field but only made eight of 24 shots (33.3 percent) from three-point range. In the second half, however, UW picked up its shooting, hitting 51.6 percent (16 of 31) overall.

Iowa (6–1) only shot 39 percent (23 of 59) and connected on just six of 24 three-point attempts while committing 12 turnovers on the night. Forward Tyler Cook tallied a team-high 19 points with 15 rebounds, while Jordan Bohannon and Luka Garza scored 11 points each for the Hawkeyes.

Tied 27–27 at halftime, Khalil Iverson’s layup put UW up two, but Iowa went on a 19–9 run in just under five minutes to take an eight-point lead at 46–38 with 12:56 remaining in the game.

With the Hawkeyes up 50–43, the Badgers countered with an 11–4 run to tie the game at 54–54 with 8:12 left after a Trice layup. Twelve of Trice’s 20 points came in those final 20 minutes.

Two Connor McCaffery free throws gave Iowa a brief lead, but UW went on a 6–0 run to go up 60–56 after a Happ dunk with 4:37 left.

Iowa then scored five unanswered points, and thanks to a Wieskamp and-one, Fran McCaffery’s squad took a 61–60 lead with 3:13 remaining.

Over 90 seconds later, Pritzl, who had been 1-of-5 from three-point range, drained a shot from the corner to give UW a 63–61 advantage at the 1:35 mark.

After holding Iowa, Happ’s layup extended the lead to four. However, the big man fouled out on the Hawkeyes’ next possession.

For that matter, Wisconsin’s frontcourt dealt with foul trouble most of the night. Forwards Aleem Ford and Nate Reuvers were called for four fouls each.

Bohannon made two free throws to cut the Iowa deficit to two points, but Trice—shooting 60 percent from three-point range entering Friday night—hit one with 20 seconds remaining to extend the lead to five at 68–63.

Trading threes, Bohannon answered once again with one of his own to make it a two-point game. Nicholas Baer fouled Brad Davison thereafter, who went on to hit both of his free throws.

Davison recorded nine points and four rebounds.

A Wieskamp three did not connect on the other end. Trice made good on his two free throws to cap the scoring for the night.

Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center on Monday night to host Rutgers before non-conference play starts up again.