Hayes saves Badgers in OT victory over Huskers

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Wisconsin has found itself in dogfights before, winning four of its last six games by single digits. That trend continued on Thursday night, as defense won the day again for Wisconsin in a 70-69 overtime win over Nebraska.


It sure wasn’t pretty on offense, as the Badgers shot just 37 percent from the field and just 8 of 22 from beyond the arc.

Nigel Hayes got Wisconsin over the finish line though, pouring in 20 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 7 of 11 from the free throw line. He also hit the game-winning shot, knocking down a triple from the top of the key with the shot clock running out and just under 20 seconds remaining in overtime.

Hayes got some help after that, as Ethan Happ made his big case for Defensive Player of the Year with a block on the ensuing Nebraska possession. He also grabbed the loose ball and was able to call a time out.

The sophomore then made sure Wisconsin would come away with its seventh-straight victory. Happ ended the game with just eight points on 3 of 9 shooting, but was effective elsewhere with a game-high 14 rebounds, one block and steal.

Despite the craziness of the end of this game, it was certainly ugly for much of the night on both ends of the court.

The two teams combined for 47 total personal fouls, shot a combined 38.2 percent from the field and combined for 35 turnovers (22 from Nebraska). So, perhaps it was only fitting that this game went right down to the wire.

It also went down to the wire because of Wisconsin’s inability to take advantage of great defensive play early on in this one. Scoring droughts were the story of the first half for UW.

At first it was a 4:12 scoring drought. But, turnovers by Nebraska kept game in Wisconsin’s favor. Despite the extended scoring drought, the score never got closer than 14-11 with 10:28 to play in the first half.

That was followed by the Badgers mustering only 11 points in the final 10 minutes of the half. It didn’t help that UW suffered a second extended scoring drought, as it took nearly three minutes to get from 21 to 23 points.

In that time, Nebraska made another big run at the Badgers, pulling within three points again at 21-18 with 5:02 to play in the half. Khalil Iverson ended the Badgers scoring drought with a beautiful spin move and a lay-in to go up 23-18.

But, no one outside of Vitto Brown seemed to be able really get anything going offensively in the first half.

Brown led all Badgers with all seven of his points in the first half. The rest of the starters combined for just 14 points, while UW shot just 9 of 29 from the field as a team in the first half.

The good news is that Nebraska couldn’t get it going either, shooting just 10 of 29 from the field and turning the ball over 11 times. Nebraska also couldn’t do much with 10 offensive rebounds, turning them in to just three second-chance points in the first half.

Given the close nature of bad play from both teams it wasn’t surprising to see UW leading just 25-24 at intermission.

Things looked like they would change early on in the second half, with the Badgers opening the period 5 of 10 from the field. However that wasn’t going to stay and UW’s offense continued to struggle to find consistency.

Hayes was about the only on the Badgers could count on, as he poured in 15 of his 17 points in regulation in the second half. None of those points were bigger than the jumper he hit with under 15 seconds remaining to put UW up 58-55…that is until overtime.

However, Michael Jacobson hit a three with just .3 seconds left in the game to send it in to overtime. That was made possible by Wisconsin choosing not to foul up three.

It was only fitting that the two would just slug it out in overtime, and that it would be Hayes that would figure in the final score.

He would hit a three-pointer with just under 20 seconds left to put Wisconsin up 70-69..and the rest is history.

The Badgers return home for a tricky weekend affair with Northwestern, who was red-hot before dropping the last two games against Purdue and Illinois. Tip is scheduled for 5:30p.m. on Sunday on BTN.

The post Hayes saves Badgers in OT victory over Huskers appeared first on A Wisconsin Badgers Site.

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Can the Badgers please stop playing close games for a while? My heart can't take it.

Sounds like the Badgers are hurting a little. Both Koenig and Hayes are dinged up. Hope they can rest them a little and let them heal up for the stretch run.
 
This was another of those games where the Badgers played down to the level of the opposition. Nebraska came out playing NYC street ball, and the Badgers were mugged. They aren't geared for that type of game. But, Nigel Hayes sucked it up, and played like he was at a concrete court in Brooklyn. He showed why he's going to be a respectable player at the next level. Without him, the Badgers would have been destroyed.
 
Yikes, that was a hard game to watch at times. Some of it was due to the Badgers being a little slow and seemingly out of sorts. (Which has kinda been going on for a few games now.)

Some of it was due to the style of defense that Nebby was playing. It reminded me a bit of the way Purdue used to play the Badgers in some years. Hyper-aggressive and physical - pushing the boundaries with the refs. The refs could have called 50 fouls on Nebby last night (and probably another 30 on UW who eventually figured out that muggings inside were being allowed). They didn't . . . which let things degenerate into an ugly push and shove type game that seemed to unfortunately favor the Huskers over Bucky.

All that said, the Badgers did get some open looks and if they had shot a little better percentage it would have been a more comfortable win.
 
Koenig, don't stop to clean your shoes when you're on the 10 second clock!

"Shoot ugly, win ugly" seems to be the formula for success this year, lol! This is a gritty team, that sure seems to find a way to finish. Hope they can stay healthy enough to get to the Sweet 16. Teams are really starting to play physical against them.
 
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