No. 13 Wisconsin 83, Minnesota 57: Ben Brust scored a career-high 29 points as the Badgers routed the Gophers for their ninth win in the last 10 games in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
Freshman Nigel Hayes poured in 15 points off the bench for No. 2 seed Wisconsin (26-6), which shot 54.5 percent and will meet second-seeded Michigan State in Saturday's semifinals. Bronson Koenig hit all four of his 3-pointers and went 5-for-5 from the field en route to a 14-point effort, Sam Dekker added 10 and Frank Kaminsky matched a career high with 12 rebounds.
DeAndre Mathieu led the way with 18 points and five assists for seventh-seeded Minnesota (20-13), which sits firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble after failing to defeat a team with a winning conference record since beating Wisconsin on Jan. 22. Joey King knocked down all three of his attempts from beyond the arc to finish with 14 points before fouling out for the Gophers.
Wisconsin never trailed and got a big early boost from Brust, who scored 11 of his 13 first-half points during a game-opening 21-9 surge. Minnesota countered with three consecutive 3-pointers, but the Gophers failed to score during the final three minutes of the opening stanza and Koenig drilled two triples as the Badgers scored the final eight points of the half to build a 34-22 lead.
After Minnesota moved within nine early in the second half, Hayes scored six points during an 8-0 burst that increased the margin to 50-33 with 12 minutes to go. The Gophers answered with the next seven points, but Hayes scored seven straight points and Brust bookended a 17-5 surge that stretched the Badgers’ advantage to 22 with just over four minutes to go.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan secured his 700th career victory. … Andre and Austin Hollins, who combined to average 26.2 points over Minnesota’s first 32 games, combined to go 3-of-20 from the field and scored 13 points. … The 26-point spread was the largest margin of victory by the Badgers in Big Ten tournament history.
Minnesota | Wisconsin | |
Deandre Mathieu 18 | Scoring | Ben Brust 29 |
Deandre Mathieu 5 | Assists | Traevon Jackson 4 |
Elliott Eliason 7 | Rebounds | Frank Kaminsky 12 |
Joey King 3 | Free Throws Made | Ben Brust 9 |
Austin Hollins 2 | Steals | Ben Brust 3 |
N/A | Blocks | Frank Kaminsky 3 |