National Basketball Association
Wisconsin 74, Illinois 68
When: 3:30 PM ET, Sunday, February 3, 2013
Where: Assembly Hall, Champaign, Illinois
Officials:
# Paul Janssen, # Ray Perone, # Mike Sanzere
Attendance:
15073
By SportsDirect Inc.
Wisconsin 74, Illinois 68: Ben Brust scored 20 points as the visiting Badgers completed a regular-season series sweep of the Illini for the second straight season.
Frank Kaminsky, a 6-11 sophomore forward, came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points and Ryan Evans added 15 points and nine rebounds for Wisconsin (15-7, 6-3). The Illini, who came in averaging over eight 3-pointers per game, were limited to 2-for-13 shooting beyond the arc.
Guard Joseph Bertrand scored 17 points and center Nnanna Egwu finished with 14 points for Illinois (15-8, 2-7), which has lost six of its last seven games.
Illinois, which fell behind 14-0 in a 74-51 loss to the Badgers in Madison on Jan. 12, started much better in the rematch, taking a 16-14 lead at the 8:20 mark of the first half on a 3-pointer by guard D.J. Richardson. But the Badgers, behind 11 points by Brust, went on a 19-8 run after that to take a 33-24 halftime lead.
Illinois closed to within 35-30 early in the second half on an Egwu dunk and had a chance to cut it to three but Myke Henry missed a dunk after a Bertrand steal. Brust then nailed a 3-pointer a few moments later to start an 8-0 run by the Badgers, and Illinois never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Senior G Brandon Paul, the Big Ten's No. 3 scorer (17.6) who was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25, did not start for Illinois for the first time this season but scored 13 points on 3-of-13 shooting. Paul had eight points on 1-of-11 shooting in the first meeting. ... Richardson moved past Johnny "Red" Kerr (1,299) into 21st place on the Illini career scoring list with his first-half 3-pointer. Richardson now has 1,307 career points. ... Illinois lost its fourth straight home game, the first time since the 2007-08 season that the Illini have dropped four in a row at home.
Top Game Performances
Wisconsin |
|
Illinois |
Ben Brust 20 |
Scoring |
Joseph Bertrand 17 |
Mike Bruesewitz 2 |
Assists |
Tracy Abrams 3 |
Ryan Evans 9 |
Rebounds |
Joseph Bertrand 7 |
Frank Kaminsky 12 |
Free Throws Made |
Brandon Paul 7 |
Mike Bruesewitz 2 |
Steals |
Brandon Paul 2 |
Jared Berggren 1 |
Blocks |
Nnanna Egwu 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Wisconsin
|
74 |
42.9 |
4-14 |
28-42 |
9 |
38 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
Illinois
|
68 |
43.8 |
2-13 |
10-15 |
10 |
26 |
2 |
4 |
9 |