Wisconsin Badgers find their touch after halftime and pull away from Lehigh
MADISON – For nearly 26 minutes Thursday night, Wisconsin’s players appeared determined to extend their streak of consecutive games decided by five points or fewer to eight.
Or worse, lose to a Lehigh team that entered the night with a .500 record.
After a quick chat during a timeout with 14 minutes 10 seconds left, the Badgers finally executed like a team ranked No. 23 in the country and unbeaten in Big Ten play.
Five players contributed during a prolific scoring run and UW pulled away for a 78-56 victory over Lehigh at the Kohl Center.
"I feel like in that first half we were really just beating ourselves," senior forward Tyler Wahl said. "We were getting easy looks and missing those. And mental lapses on the defensive end. Halftime speech was: We’ve got to be ourselves, play how we know how to play and trust each other.
"We came out and showed spurts of it, but it wasn't until that timeout where we really figured it out."
Four players scored in double figures for UW, led by Steven Crowl with 15 points. The junior center added five rebounds and four assists. He hit just 1 of his first 6 shots but finished 6 of 11.
"The coaches and my teammates were on me," Crowl said. "They know what I can do down low. They kept telling me to go."
Jordan Davis hit 4 of 6 three-pointers and finished with 14 points and five rebounds. Wahl added 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Freshman Connor Essegian added 13 points, including 10 in the second half when UW went on a 29-6 run to turn a 43-38 deficit into a 67-49 lead with 4:58 left.
Chucky Hepburn did not play well early but finished with eight points and three assists. Max Klesmit added eight points and three assists. Carter Gilmore contributed five points and four rebounds.
Guards Evan Taylor and Keith Higgins Jr. combined to hit 14 of 21 shots and scored 18 and 15 points, respectively, for Lehigh.
BOX SCORE: Wisconsin 78, Lehigh 56
UW (9-2), which entered the day No. 46 in the NCAA Net rankings, hit 11 of 21 three-pointers (52.4%) and extended its winning streak to four games.
The Badgers, who are in the midst of final exams, don’t play again until Dec. 23 against visiting Grambling State. They host Western Michigan on Dec. 30 before resuming Big Ten play on Jan. 3 against visiting Minnesota.
Lehigh, picked No. 3 in the Patriot League preseason poll, saw its record fall to 4-5.
After playing in seven consecutive games decided by five points or fewer, the Badgers were sluggish early, particularly on defense.
Lehigh, shooting just 41.9% entering the night, took advantage of porous defense by UW to attack the paint and score at will.
The Badgers surrendered 22 points in the paint in the opening half and turned the ball over seven times, which led to 10 Lehigh points.
Lehigh hit 9 of 11 shots at the rim in the opening half en route to building a 32-31 halftime lead but hit only 1 of 5 after halftime.
"I thought we did a really good job in the first half of moving the ball and making quick decisions, particularly getting the ball from one side of the floor to the other," Lehigh coach Brett Reed said. "(That) allowed us to attack them when they weren’t as loaded (defensively) or as set to the ball.
"The second half I thought there were a few times we tried to make a one-on-one play. And Wisconsin’s defense overall, as strong as they are collectively, makes it very difficult to do."
Lehigh scored 10 points off seven UW turnovers in the opening half and turned back to back turnovers in the second half into a transition three-pointer and a jumper, both by Higgins, for a 43-38 lead with 14:10 left.
"I thought they played much better tonight than I’ve seen them play all year," UW coach Greg Gard said. "I thought they were more patient. I thought they were much more deliberate. They got back to things that will make them competitive in that league."
Gard called a timeout with his team down by five and the Badgers finally took control.
Essegian hit 2 three-pointers, in a span of 28 seconds, to give UW the lead for good at 44-43. Klesmit hit a three-pointer, Wahl scored on a drive to push the lead to six points and the Badgers didn't stop until they had scored 29 points in a span of 8:59, over 17 possessions.
"The second half we were much more physical, aggressive defensively," Gard said. "And that got us going. In the first half we were not and the allowed them to get comfortable. Too many drives to the rim. Too many of everything in the first half.
"We got going defensively and that helped us offensively and were able to play much better the last 12 to 14 minutes."
More:Badgers move into both top 25 men's basketball polls after winning their first two Big Ten games
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers turn close game into rout of Lehigh with second-half surge
