It wasn’t pretty, but Wisconsin basketball fans aren’t used to winning with style points. The No. 9 Wisconsin Badgers (11-3, 5-2 Big Ten), led by a late 8-0 D’Mitrik Trice run, finished off Rutgers (7-5, 3-5) late for a 60-54 win at the RAC.
Brad Davison got off to a hot start with 9 of the first 11 Wisconsin points after just a 2 point outing at Michigan. The senior wound up tied for a team-high with 14 points. He was tied with fellow senior Aleem Ford, who took control of the game in the middle of the first half. Despite going 0-3 from three in the first 20 minutes, Ford attacked the rim and wound up 4-5 from inside the arc en route to 9 first half points. The Georgia native also put some jelly on his toast with the drive of his Badger career:
Aleem the Dream. 🤯@aleemty2 is nice with it for @BadgerMBB: pic.twitter.com/41IOya1xH3
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 16, 2021
With Trice picking up two fouls in the first half and being forced to sit through the final five-plus minutes, Rutgers and Jacob Young took advantage to cut the Badger lead to just 33-32 at halftime.
After nine of their first 13 shot second half shot attempts came from three, and they went just 1-9 on those shots, Wisconsin turned to Trice to bail them out in the final ten minutes. Bail them out he did. Playing every second half minute, Wisconsin’s leading scorer took over down the stretch with a pair of deep threes, a driving layup, and free throws to lift his Badgers to a 60-54 win. The senior point guard finished with 13 points, with 9 of his 13 coming in the final 20.
Wisconsin got back in the win column after the Michigan debacle, while Rutgers dropped their fourth straight.