Three takeaways from Wisconsin’s 58-49 win over Penn State

Wisconsin picked up a huge road victory over No. 20 Penn State on Saturday. Here are our top three takeaways from the game for the Badgers.

Wisconsin’s defense gets back on track

Jan 11, 2020; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Brad Davison (34) defends Penn State Nittany Lions guard Myreon Jones (0) during the second half at Bryce Jordan Center. Wisconsin defeated Penn State 58-49. Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but it wasn’t a pretty offensive performance for the Badgers on the road on Saturday afternoon. However, as it did against Ohio State in Columbus, Wisconsin’s defense carried the load by holding its opponent to one of its worst outings of the season.

The Badgers responded nicely on that end of the floor against the Nittany Lions after struggling to get stops in the loss to Illinois, holding a team that was averaging 79.7 points to a season-low 49. Penn State didn’t get on the board until the 11:24 mark in the first half, and finished the game shooting 32.7 percent from the field, including 23.8 percent from beyond the arc.

There was a period in the second half in which Wisconsin appeared to be going into a similar type of meltdown mode that we saw against the Fighting Illini, with Penn State managing to pull within four. However, the Badgers proceeded to clamp down defensively and create enough breathing room to carry them to victory.

Once again, Wisconsin is proving that its defense is good enough to overcome bad offensive play and get wins against solid opponents.