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On Tuesday night at the Kohl Center, the No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team beat the No. 8 Purdue Boilermakers 70-67 and clinched, at a minimum, a share of the Big Ten regular season title. As has been mentioned many times, it was a wild ride for this team that was projected to be No. 10 in the conference, not the nation.
Everything about this night *chef's kiss* pic.twitter.com/zQvGLVwWhT
— Big Ten Champs (@BadgerMBB) March 2, 2022
Here are some fun facts about the Badgers win!
- Wisconsin clinched at least a share of the 2022 Big Ten championship, marking the Badgers’ second league title in three seasons and the 20th in school history.
- The Badgers (20) trail only Purdue (24) and Indiana (22) for most conference titles in league history.
- With two Big Ten championships during his tenure, Greg Gard joins Tom Izzo (10) and Matt Painter (two) as the only active coaches with multiple Big Ten titles.
- Wisconsin has won six Big Ten regular season titles since 2000 (2002, 2003, 2008, 2015, 2020 and 2022), trailing only Michigan State (eight) for the most titles during that span.
- With 24 wins (so far), this season matches the tenth highest win total in school history and the second highest win total under Gard.
- UW is now 15-4 in the Big Ten, the most conference wins in the Gard era. The Badgers have won 15 Big Ten wins for just the third time in program history.
- Wisconsin has won at least 14 Big Ten games for the third time in the last four seasons, the only team that can make that claim.
- The Badgers are 5-3 and teams ranked in the AP Top-25 this season.
- UW is now 16-4 in Quad 1 and 2 games. Only Baylor (17) has more.
So happy for a group of kids and staff. @BadgerMBB win the Big Ten. Coach Gard Big Ten Coach of Year! Johnny Davis POY and yes National Player of The Year too.
— Brian Butch (@Brian_Butch) March 2, 2022
- With his 84th Big Ten win, Gard passed former Minnesota coach Jim Dutcher (1975-86) for 32nd place on the league’s all-time wins list in conference games.
- This was Wisconsin’s first season sweep of the Boilermakers since 2014.
- Wisconsin improved to 15-1 this season in games decided by six or fewer points.
- The Badgers have won 15 consecutive games decided by two possessions or less. That is the longest the longest streak in Div. 1 since the three-point line was added in 1986.
- With 16 points against Purdue, Johnny Davis has now scored in double figures in 26 of 27 games this season.
CHUCKYYYYY pic.twitter.com/yZAyCwpTPY
— Big Ten Champs (@BadgerMBB) March 2, 2022
- Freshman Chucky Hepburn finished with a career-high 17 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining. He went 4-for-6 from three-point range.
- Junior Tyler Wahl notched 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting and had a career-high five steals.