Solving Wisconsin puzzle impossible for NU

MADISON, Wis. - Kevin Coble handled the ImPACT test without a problem on Wednesday morning.

Acing that extensive online quiz - a necessity after the Northwestern junior forward suffered a concussion in Monday's practice - allowed him to play.

Alas, Coble and his teammates proceeded to flunk the BaDGER test in every way possible Wednesday night.

Wisconsin dominated throughout for a 74-45 Big Ten bludgeoning before 17,230 at the Kohl Center.

Junior guard Jason Bohannon poured in a career-high 20 points for the Badgers (12-3, 3-0). Coble and senior guard Craig Moore had 9 apiece for the Wildcats (8-5, 0-3).

"Everything that could go wrong went wrong," said Moore, who hit 1 of 7 3-pointers despite getting "five good looks."

Northwestern, which managed just 2 points during a telling 10-minute, 36-second stretch in the first half, delivered season-lows for points and field-goal shooting (31.4 percent).

The sad thing? That might have been the Wildcats' superior side of the ball.

"I wasn't really happy at all with our defense," said NU coach Bill Carmody. "They shot 50 percent. Teams aren't shooting that well against us, generally.

"I didn't feel the spark, you know? I think some of the younger guys, going into some of the new arenas away from home, it's bothering them because generally they're not playing too well."

Carmody pointed to the game's opening 12 minutes when freshmen Luka Mirkovic, John Shurna and Davide Curletti each had short shots swatted by 6-foot-10 sophomore Jon Leuer.

"I don't know if they were intimidated or what, but it affected the rest of the game," Carmody said.

Carmody benched Shurna for the entire second half, while Mirkovic and 7-footer Kyle Rowley combined for just 25 minutes on the night.

In their stead, the 6-9 Curletti saw the floor for the first time since the DePaul game on Dec. 6 and contributed 4 points and 3 rebounds.

"He comes out and plays strong," Coble said. "He plays like a mini-Tyler Hansbrough type guy. He just goes in there and plays with a lot of energy, throws his body around, gets some rebounds, gives us a different look at center."

NU needs something different before it returns to action next Thursday against Purdue.

"We have some time off now and I'm glad," Carmody said, "because we've got a heckuva lot to work on."