Now That's More Like It

So far this season the Wisconsin men's basketball team has looked both good and bad. Abysmal shooting on the road and in the Old Spice Classic made the Badgers look bad. Excellent shooting, and solid defense at the Kohl Center have made the Badgers look good. It was those good Badgers that showed up in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge against North Carolina State on Wednesday.

In Orlando the Badgers struggled to score in the first half, and only broke 60 once in the tournament. Not to mention scoring only 50 and 51 in the other two games of the holiday tournament. Against the Wolf Pack that would be a different story.

The Badgers came out fast against a young NC State team scoring 44 points in the first half. Led by Jordan Taylor and John Leuer the Badgers were able to get off to a faster start against the Wolf Pack, and they began to pull away as early as the first half.

Starting in the first stanza the Badgers showed their ability to play defense. Holding NC State scoreless for the last "", and they holding them to zero for another "" in the second half. During that time the Badgers opened up a "" lead, and never looked back. In part because of their performance from behind the three point line.

Taylor was the first to start stroking them in from behind the arch, but soon the threes were coming from different sources. First it was sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz who nailed all three he attempted, and accounted for all nine of his points. Then it was center Jared Berggren who made all three of his shots from long range.

As a team the Badgers shot over fifty percent behind the arch. Reversing a trend of poor shooting from distance that had been haunting the Badgers all season, and was a major role in both of their losses.

By the end of the night the Badgers it appeared that the Badgers had solved many of the problems that they have faced so far this season. Led by John Leuer's "average" night of 22 points the Badgers were able to put up 87 points, and this time they found them from some unlikely sources. As the Badgers routed the Wolf Pack 87-48 at the Kohl Center.