Technically, a college basketball game encompasses 40 minutes of scoreboard clock time. Converted into seconds, a college basketball game lasts 2,400 seconds of scoreboard time. On Sunday in Madison, the Wisconsin Badgers needed only 100 of those 2,400 seconds to deck the Marquette Golden Eagles and secure a coveted victory in this in-state rivalry.
Wisconsin played well throughout this game, but if a particular sliver of Sunday’s showdown stood out, it was the pocket of one minute and 40 seconds — 100 seconds — which followed the under-eight-minute TV timeout in the second half. With 7:52 left, Wisconsin led 58-51, possessing a small working margin but nothing which could be considered comfortable — not with Marquette’s Markus Howard being capable of a massive scoring binge at any moment. Wisconsin had a lot of work to do to send Marquette to the canvas. It seemed as though the game was going to go down to the final few minutes.
That changed in the next 100 seconds. Brad Davison hit a 3-pointer. Nate Reuvers came up with a steal. D’Mitrik Trice hit a three. The defense forced a turnover by Marquette’s Theo John. Brevin Pritzl hit a three off an unselfish assist pass from Kobe King. With 6:12 left, Wisconsin led 67-51, and that was that. No late drama. No last-minute intrigue. Wisconsin scored a knockout before the final media timeout of the afternoon.
The beauty of these 100 seconds lay in the fact that every play involved a different Wisconsin player: Davison. Then Reuvers. Then Trice. Then Pritzl and King. While Howard tried to play Hero-Ball at times, and shot 6 for 21 in the process, Wisconsin kept spreading the wealth and sharing responsibilities at both ends of the floor. It was beautiful. It was necessary, with Micah Potter out. It was the best of Wisconsin basketball, the heart of this program’s identity in the 21st century, dating back to Dick Bennett’s Final Four trip in the year 2000.
The number 100 is a nice, round number. That round number in the realm of roundball referred to the amount of seconds Wisconsin needed to turn a typically tough and tense tussle against a rival into a runaway. The Badgers hope to replicate that 100-second sequence many times over this season. If they do, look out, Big Ten. You never know where or when these Badgers will strike. Everyone got involved in the best 100 seconds of a satisfying Sunday for Wisconsin.