Senior forward Ethan Happ recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, becoming Wisconsin's all-time leading rebounder as the Badgers rolled to an easy 96-59 victory over Houston Baptist on Saturday night at Madison, Wis.
Happ, who made 7 of 9 shots in 25 minutes, passed Claude Gregory (904 from 1977-81) to become Wisconsin's leader on the boards. Happ has 911 career rebounds.
Junior Brevin Pritzl scored a team-high 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting off the bench and sophomore forward Nate Reuvers added a career-best 15 points for Wisconsin (3-0), which shot 60.3 percent from the field. Sophomore guard D'Mitrik Trice made three 3-pointers while scoring 12 points and senior forward Charles Thomas IV added 10 points.
Sophomore guard Ian DuBose recorded 18 points and four steals to pace Houston Baptist (1-2). Junior guard Jalon Gates added 12 points for the Huskies, who shot 38.6 percent from the field and committed 15 turnovers.
The Badgers outscored Houston Baptist 54-28 in the paint and held a 34-24 rebounding edge. Wisconsin committed 10 turnovers.
Happ had 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and collected nine rebounds in the first half as the Badgers held a 50-24 halftime edge. The Badgers shot 66.7 percent from the field while limiting Houston Baptist to 31 percent.
Wisconsin quickly created distance and Trice converted a three-point play to cap a 9-0 burst and give the Badgers a 22-8 lead with 12:44 left in the half.
Wisconsin ran off eight straight a short time later to hold a 30-11 lead after a basket by freshman guard Kobe King with 10:42 remaining.
The Badgers' largest first-half lead was 28 points, occurring when Trice made a 3-pointer to make it 50-22 with 32 seconds left.
The lead went beyond 30 for the first time when sophomore guard Brad Davison drained a 3-pointer to increase Wisconsin's lead to 61-30 with 16:17 remaining in the game.
Pritzl's basket pushed the advantage to 85-50 with 4:42 left. The lead topped out at 37 points on Thomas' jumper 30 seconds later.
--Field Level Media
Houston Baptist | Wisconsin | |
Ian Dubose 18 | Scoring | Brevin Pritzl 17 |
Braxton Bonds 3 | Assists | Ethan Happ 6 |
Braxton Bonds 5 | Rebounds | Ethan Happ 12 |
Edward Hardt 3 | Free Throws Made | Brevin Pritzl 5 |
Ian Dubose 4 | Steals | Ethan Happ 2 |
Edward Hardt 1 | Blocks | Nate Reuvers 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Houston Baptist | 59 | 38.6 | 7-22 | 8-12 | 7 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 15 |
Wisconsin | 96 | 60.3 | 7-18 | 19-25 | 18 | 33 | 4 | 6 | 10 |