NU no match for Badgers in 78-46 loss
Northwestern basketball fans had little trouble getting home in time for pregame activities before the Packers-Bears game Sunday afternoon.
Early departures were made possible when No. 18 Wisconsin placed five players in double figures and put on a clinic in Welsh-Ryan Arena while trashing the hapless Wildcats 78-46.
The Badgers (15-4, 5-2 Big Ten) scored on 18 of 24 possessions, including 3 offensive rebounds, while building a 45-26 halftime advantage.
Then they dashed any hope of a Wildcats comeback with a 17-0 run over a stretch of 5:14 midway through the second half.
Wisconsin hit 18 of 29 shots (62 percent) in the first half and 31 of 56 (55 percent) overall.
While senior forwards Jon Leuer (19 points) and Keaton Nankivil (16) along with junior point guard Jordan Taylor (14) combined to outscore all of the Wildcats, it was freshman guard Josh Gasser who stole the spotlight with the first triple-double in Wisconsin history.
The 6-foot-3 native of Port Washington, Wis., who received his first major college offer from Northwestern, collected his 10th assist on Brett Valentyn's 3-pointer with three minutes remaining and soon departed with 12 rebounds and 10 points.
“A triple-double by a freshman against a very good team in a very tough place to play, that was a tremendous accomplishment,” Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. “It's great for the program.
“I'm sure his folks will take him out to dinner and people will pat him on the back. It's today and there's a lot more coming. We never get too high or get too low, just march on and see if we can do some more of those good things.
“The things that they (Wildcats) do you have to be disciplined defensively. You can't get rattled or over-anticipate.
“That's one of the things about Gasser's athletic background. He's one of those guys you can tell once or twice and he's going to get the concept. This offensive philosophy of the backdoors and reverses is solid basketball.
“In order to guard it, you really have to pay attention and have to be disciplined, and Josh is that.”
Northwestern coach Bill Carmody was baffled by his team's defensive play.
“We never stopped them; they got all the shots they wanted no matter what defense we played,” he said after his team fell to 13-6, 3-5.
“Every timeout we called we talked about defense and never got a chance to talk about offense. They did what they wanted and played very well.”
Forward John Shurna and center Luka Mirkovic each scored 13 points to lead the Wildcats. Senior point guard Michael Thompson was held to 6 points, while Drew Crawford (13.6 average) failed to score on 6 shots.