MADISON -- For a few early minutes, the Wisconsin Badgers came out rusty and playing the kind of basketball you'd expect from an early-season exhibition. But with freshman point guard George Marshall leading the charge, the Badgers surged to a 16-0 run to build a double-digit lead. At halftime, Wisconsin leads Oshkosh, 44-18.
In these early-season contests -- tonight's doesn't even count toward the standings -- the most interesting bits of information come in the unveiling of head coach Bo Ryan's rotation. After the starting lineup of George Marshall, Ben Brust, Frank Kaminsky, Jared Berggren and Ryan Evans, freshman Sam Dekker and sophomore Traevon Jackson were the first Badgers off the bench. Dekker even got some looks at the 5, if you can call it that, when he was the largest UW player on the court alongside Evans, Jackson, Brust and Marshall.
Evans led the Badgers with nine first-half points, while five quick points before halftime gave Brust eight. Wisconsin opened the game trailing 7-0, before a 29-2 run turned this one into a laugher. Oshkosh's hot start was due to some white-hot early (very early) shooting and the sloppy play from UW you'd expect this early in the season.
One other interesting note: every healthy Badger except Evan Anderson, Jordan Smith and J.D. Wise saw minutes in the first half. In somewhat of a surprise, Zach Bohannon was the last of Wisconsin's newcomers to see the court. Even freshman guard Zak Showalter, who was tabbed for a redshirt before the injury to Josh Gasser, saw action before Bohannon, a junior transfer forward from Air Force.