Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Men's Basketball Falls To Wisconsin, 73-44
2/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 9, 2002
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Charlie Wills was one of five players to score in double figures as Wisconsin posted a 73-44 Big Ten victory over the Wildcats Saturday night.
The Badgers (14-11, 7-5 Big Ten) took command with a 21-4 run at the start of the second half en route to outscoring the Wildcats, 47-20, for the stanza. Wills scored eight points and Penney added six during the run.
Northwestern (13-9, 4-6)--which had defeated Wisconsin, 69-60, just 10 days ago in Evanston--made only two of its first 11 field goal attempts in the second half. The Wildcats went scoreless for more than five minutes as the Badgers ran off 13 straight points.
Jitim Young led the Wildcats with 17 points, including their only six points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Winston Blake and Tavaras Hardy had seven and eight-game streaks of double-figure scoring games ended, respectively, with seven points apiece.
Devin Harris and Freddie Owens added 11 points each and Mike Wilkinson 10 for Wisconsin.
Kirk Penney, who scored 15 points, grabbed 12 rebounds as he recorded his second consecutive double-double and his third of the season.
After shooting just 40 percent in the first half, the Badgers shot a scintillating 71 percent in the second half, hitting 17 of 24 attempts.
The game was close throughout the first half. The Badgers led by five points early, but Young scored nine straight Northwestern points to spark a 13-4 run that gave the Wildcats a 19-15 lead.
Wisconsin outscored the Wildcats 11-5 the rest of the half to regain a 26-24 lead.
Northwestern is back in action Wednesday night, hosting Minnesota at 7 p.m. The Gophers come to town in third place in the Big Ten standings after a win at Iowa Saturday.
