Wisconsin bounces back with blowout win over Penn State

The Wisconsin Badgers took care of business inside the Bryce Jordan Center on Sunday night, defeating Penn State in convincing fashion with a 71-52 road victory.

One game removed from only scoring 14 points and connecting on six of 26 field goals in its first 20 minutes of a Jan. 3 loss to Minnesota, Wisconsin tallied 33 in the first half on Sunday night and led for almost 33:26 of the game.

Redshirt senior forward Ethan Happ overcame a rough shooting start to the game, scoring 22 points on 10 of 24 from the field. He also recorded eight rebounds and four assists.

A pair of sophomores stepped up for UW (11-4, 3-1 Big Ten) as well in the win. Guard Brad Davison tallied 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including hitting all three of his three-point attempts, and also grabbed seven rebounds.

Forward Nate Reuvers scored 11 points (5-of-7 shooting) and also recorded five blocks.

Overall, Wisconsin shot 49.2 percent from the field (30 of 61), 50 percent from three-point range (eight of 16).

Forward Lamar Stevens led Penn State (7-8, 0-4) with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting. The Badgers held the Nittany Lions to only 37.7 percent from the field (20 of 53 field goals) while forcing 16 turnovers—11 in the first half.

After a Myles Dread three-pointer tied the game at 7-7 at the 15:52 mark, Wisconsin went on a 22-6 run in an 8:53 span to go up 16 points with under four minutes remaining in the first half.

Later in the half, Penn State went on a 7-0 run to cut a 15-point deficit to eight. Brad Davison’s jumper with seven seconds remaining allowed Wisconsin to take a 10-point lead into halftime at 33-23.

UW went on a 10-0 run in the first 2:49 of the second half to push the lead out to 20. That was part of a broader 16-2 streak that allowed Wisconsin to take a 49-25 advantage after a Happ layup with 13:47 left in the game.

Happ scored eight of those 16 points in that run and recorded 12 of his 22 overall in the second half.

Trailing by as much as 24 points, Penn State would not pull closer than 15 a couple of times late in the game.

Senior forward Charles Thomas also contributed seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, including a three-pointer in the first half. Though he did not record any points in the win, Khalil Iverson grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists.

The team overall recorded 17 assists while only committing seven turnovers.