The Wisconsin Badgers advanced to the NIT semifinals on Tuesday with a win in Oregon.
The Badgers advance to the Final Four!
From the NIT.
But hey, another clutch shoot-out in the closing minutes resulted in another Badger win in a nail biter against the Ducks.
The Wisconsin Badgers beat the Oregon Ducks 61-58 in Tuesday night’s NIT quarterfinals, extending their season by at least another week.
After the Badgers could barely maintain a 27:26 lead at halftime, a hard-fought second half was imminent.
The team shot just 34.5% from the field in the sloppy first half and struggled to finish in the paint. The Badgers also committed 8 turnovers and also scored only 1 field goal in the last 8:32 of the half.
To make matters worse, the Ducks had 6 blocks in the first half alone, 5 of which were against Tyler Wahl.
The start of the second half wasn’t much better.
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Badgers shot a dreadful 17% from the field and only scored 10 points. This resulted in a 45-37 deficit at 9:40 at halftime.
However, they finally managed to retake the lead with 1:45 minutes remaining after a three-point jump from Max Klesmit.
Oregon forward Quincy Guerrier followed up with a quick layup from time-out to retake the lead at 57-56.
On the next possession, the Ducks came out of another timeout as they played zone defense, which initially confused the Badgers, but a big cross-court assist from Tyler Wahl to Chucky Hepburn resulted in the biggest shot of the game as Hepburn sank a massive three to give the Badgers a 59-57 lead with 0:58 remaining.
From there, the Badgers would cool off the game at the free throw line and hold on for a 61-58 away win.
Max Klesmit finished as the top scorer with 18 points and Hepburn also had 12 points on a 4-15 shootout.
Once again, the Badgers shot the ball extremely well off the free throw line, knocking down 12 of 13. What was once a weakness has turned into a strength in the postseason as the team shot nearly 85% off the line.
This was the Badgers’ 20th game of the season to be decided by 5 points or fewer, and they extended their record in those games to 13-7 on the season, most in D-1 hoops.
Though the Badgers shot just 33.3% from the field, the team managed to hold out in the closing moments through tough defense and big shots.
The Badgers also overtook the Ducks 44-35, which included 14 offensive rebounds. As usual, Crowl led all players with 10 rebounds. It wasn’t another dominant offensive performance from Steven Crowl, but Klesmit was there to take offense in the second half and keep the Badgers season alive.
The team now travels to Las Vegas for their first appearance in the NIT Semifinals. They will face North Texas in a challenging game on March 28th. North Texas has won against Alcorn State, Sam Houston and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State was the first team in the bubble for the NCAA tournament.
In what has been a difficult season, it’s exciting to see the Badgers finish games back the way they should have towards the end of the regular season.
After back-to-back victories against solid competition, the Badgers are more than capable of winning the NIT. And with that mentality they should go into the semifinals.
Let’s go to Vegas baby!
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