Wisconsin's Hughes heats up, puts an end to NU's upset hopes

It couldn't have been a good sign for Northwestern.

Visiting Wisconsin, minus its second-leading scorer (injured forward Jon Leuer) and with its top gun (senior guard Trevon Hughes) stuck on 2 points with seven minutes remaining, was nonetheless still giving host Northwestern all it could ask for Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

In the end it proved to be a bad sign indeed because Hughes took over down the stretch - breaking an 0-for-5 streak from 3-point land by going 4-for-5 from long range in the final minutes to break open a close and often sloppy contest and give the 13th-ranked Badgers a 60-50 Big Ten victory over a stunned bunch of Wildcats.

"My teammates kept telling me to keep shooting," Hughes said. "If it wasn't for them I don't think I'd have taken another shot after I missed two open ones.

"It felt great leaving my fingers the whole time. The release was good; it just wasn't falling."

Until it mattered, that is.

"Our senior guards made the difference," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "Their maturity was huge tonight."

Wisconsin's "other" senior guard, Jason Bohannon, led all scorers with 19 points, while Hughes finished with 16 and Jordan Taylor added 10.

John Shurna led the Cats (12-4, 1-3) with 15 points and Jeremy Nash added 13, but it wasn't enough to match Hughes' heroics down the stretch.

"I thought it was a winnable game, but Trevon came through late," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. "He missed a shot, then lined up another one, missed, then knocked it down. He's a senior and a very good player."

In addition to Hughes' theatrics, the Badgers' late-game dominance came in other forms - such as closing things out by grabbing the final 11 rebounds of the game to keep things out of reach.

"The last five minutes they started really crashing the boards," Shurna said. "It's frustrating. Once it comes to crunchtime we've got to step up instead of just hanging with them."

After a big comeback victory over Michigan, the Wildcats were hoping to add another marquee name to their win column Wednesday. "We knew this was a big game," Nash said. "It would have been a good way to build up our resume."

Instead, they can only add to it with a win over Purdue on Saturday. Not an easy task.

"This is a tough game to lose, but the Big Ten is tough," Shurna said. "It won't get any easier Saturday."

Even if they struggle again, there's one guy who thinks this Wildcats team still can make some history this year.

"I still think they can make it (NCAA Tournament)," Ryan said. "Hold on to your hats, it's going to get crazy."