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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—Devin Harris stole the show. He flat-out
dominated in Wisconsin’s 70-53 trouncing of Illinois Sunday in the Big Ten
Championship game, scoring 29 points, hitting pretty 3-pointers and making slam
dunks while keeping Illinois defenders at bay.
Wisconsin won its first Big Ten Tournament Championship in
school history while avenging a 65-57 regular-season loss to Illinois Feb. 18.
The Illini had won 12 consecutive games, last losing Jan. 24 at Wisconsin. The
Badgers won their seventh consecutive game and will have that momentum going
when they face Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament March 19 in
Milwaukee, Wis.
“It’s good for us. We are close to home,” Harris said.
“We’re happy we’re going anywhere and we can play in the NCAA Tournament. I
think we’ll get a great fan selection, so it was a good thing for us.”
Harris, who hails from Milwaukee, had an outstanding run at
the Big Ten Tournament. He made the 2004 All-Tournament team and was named the
tourney’s Most Outstanding Player after averaging 23.7 points per game.
But he could not win a Big Ten Tournament Championship
alone and he had help from a strong supporting cast that stymied Illinois’
offense and made crucial plays in the win. Junior forward Mike Wilkinson, the
other regularly dominant presence who also made the All-Tournament team,
contributed 11 points, five rebounds and four steals. Harris and Wilkinson have
been the stories behind Wisconsin’s tournament run but bench players also made
significant contributions. After playing a fast-paced game with Michigan State,
Wisconsin faced another high-energy game and the bench provided points and
minutes while relieving starters such as Wilkinson and Harris.
Sophomore forward Ray Nixon was hot from behind the arc and
up close, sinking two clutch second half 3-point attempts to help ice the game
en route to eight points. He also grabbed four rebounds in 16 minutes on the
court. Junior guard Clayton Hanson only had two points in his 27 minutes but had
a career-high seven rebounds, all defensive, and played solid defense, often
checking Illini guard Deron Williams. Wisconsin out-rebounded Illinois 34-27; of
those 34 rebounds, 25 were on defense. Wisconsin dominated on the boards and
Hanson, Wilkinson and sophomore guard Boo Wade pulled down a combined 18
defensive rebounds.
“Defensively, I thought we did a great job, I really did,”
Ryan said. “I thought we were energized, Ray Nixon off the bench, [junior
forward Zach Morley], Clayton, [sophomore center Andreas Helmigk] to some extent
for the time that he was in, everybody stuck to the rules pretty much and stayed
committed.”
Wisconsin’s defense held Illinois to just 53 points, far
below its season average of 73 and contained sophomore guards Dee Brown and
Williams to 15 and 14 points respectively on a combined 10-for-25 shooting.
Illinois shot 29 percent from the field in the first half and hit only 16 of 49
field goals for the night.
“It’s the first time in a long time where things didn’t go
our way,” Weber said. “We’ve had great starts to almost every game and this time
it didn’t happen. … They just get the little extra bounce, get to the rebounds,
they would get two tips and we wouldn’t even get near it, so that was the key to
the start, I thought.”
Ryan credited his players’ ability to chase down scorers
and shots to the team’s success.
“I’m very proud of these guys to be able to chase the
shooters and the scorers from Illinois and keep them from getting good looks,”
Ryan said. “They can score so many points in such a short period of time, you
just can’t give them any space. I thought our guys did a real good job of
hedging or chasing on the screens and that made a big difference, it made it
tougher for them.”
Despite the tough loss and the broken win streak, the
Illini are optimistic about beginning another winning streak when they play
Murray State March 19 in Columbus, Ohio, in the opening round of the NCAA
Tournament.
“We lost to Wisconsin by 20 at their place and then came
back to win 12 straight so now we have to focus on playing Illinois basketball
the way we were,” Williams said.
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Wisconsin men's basketball notes
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Wisconsin a No. 6 seed
Harris named tourney's Most Outstanding Player
Wisconsin 70, Illinois 53 (line score)
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Big Ten Tournament bracket