Badgers blowout Marquette at home, 77-61, behind massive team effort

Wisconsin had a balanced attack on offense, which was a key to leading the Badgers to victory over Marquette

MADISON- In a highly anticipated matchup between in-state rivals Marquette and Wisconsin, the host Badgers got the best out of the Golden Eagles in blowout fashion, 77-61.

The two teams were within five of each other at the half, but Wisconsin exploded in the second half from long range, and Marquette really struggled to score against the Badgers’ defense.

Check out my keys to the game below:

Balanced attack 

In the win, the host Badgers had one of the most balanced attacks that I have seen in a long time, especially during the Greg Gard era.

This was to be expected this season losing an all-time great like Ethan Happ, but in a rivalry game like this one, it was impressive to see it come together in such fashion for Wisconsin.

Eight Badgers played at least five minutes in the game, and six of them scored in double figures.

One of those players came off the bench, and the rest included all five starters on the squad, combining for 57 of the team’s 77 points.

There will be players that step up more than others on the offensive end, but when a team can get that kind of production from just about their whole rotation, that is certainly a sight to see for this offense.

In addition, Wisconsin shot 48% from the three-point line.

Pritzl

Brevin Pritzl, the one Badgers player that scored in double figures off the bench, very well may have been the MVP of this one for Wisconsin.

In the early-going when the game was very much up for grabs, Pritzl provided an instant spark for the victors, delivering seven points and seven rebounds in eight minutes, at the guard position no less.

Whether it was grabbing offensive rebounds or hitting knock down threes, Pritzl was absolutely relentless for Wisconsin, and finished with a career-high 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Badgers.

After the game, the team let him know how important he was to this win:

Shutting down Howard 

In order to beat Marquette, you have to shut down All-American Markus Howard.

And the Badgers, led by D’Mitrik Trice at the lead guard position, did just that and more.

Howard finished with a solid 18 points, but he scored 16 of those in the first half, and did not make a field goal in the second half.

In addition, Howard only shot 6/21 from the field, which is certainly a testament to how players like Trice, Davison, and Pritzl made things tough on Howard today.

All in all, it was a total team effort from Wisconsin, and an impressive performance to move to 3-1 on the young season.