EAST LANSING, Mich. – This might have been Wisconsin’s most impressive and most important victory of the Big Ten men’s basketball season.
Johnny Davis was terrific, particularly in the second half when UW held off several challenges by Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans.
But Davis did not need to put his teammates on his back and carry them to victory, as he had last month at Purdue.
Davis led the way with 25 points, including 18 after halftime, but Greg Gard got contributions from everyone who played and the No. 14 Badgers proved to be the better team in a 70-62 victory over No. 17 Michigan State on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.
Box score:Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 62
More:Sidelined because of an ankle injury when Wisconsin and Michigan State met in Madison, Tyler Wahl is healthy and hungry for rematch
More:‘When I am more aggressive, it opens up the lane for other guys to score’: UW point guard Chucky Hepburn knows he must attack
“I think that was going to have to happen,” Gard said after he got scoring from eight of the nine players he used and some type of big play from all nine. “We were going to have to have contributions from (everyone). And we’ve started to get more and more, even though its maybe not eye-popping on the stat sheet. Guys have continued to grow.”
The Badgers (19-4, 10-3 Big Ten) never trailed and moved into a three-way tie for first place with Illinois (17-6, 10-3), and Purdue (21-3, 10-3). The Boilermakers pounded Illinois, 84-68.
UW won consecutive games in the Breslin Center for the first time since the 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons.
The Badgers defeated Purdue at Mackey Arena and the Spartans at the Breslin Center in the same season for the first time in program history.
Michigan State (17-6, 8-4) suffered its second consecutive loss and third in five games.
UW was without Tyler Wahl (ankle) in the teams’ first meeting and the Spartans took advantage of his absence to shoot 52.7%, place five players in double-figure scoring, score 21 points in transition and attempt 17 more free throws than UW in an 86-74 victory.
On Tuesday, the Spartans shot 32.0% in the opening half and finished at 41.5%. But this time only two Michigan State players scored at least 10 points and UW won the fast-break battle, 9-8.
“Our main focus was to stop them in transition and throw them off their game,” Davis said. “That is what happened.”
Davis, 27 of 78 in the previous five games (34.6%), displayed poise and didn’t try to force shots. He scored a team-high seven points in the opening half to help UW build a six-point lead and finished 2 of 4 from three-point range, 8 of 11 overall and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
Davis hit 5 of 7 shots and attempted all of his free throws after halftime.
“I thought Johnny was really efficient tonight,” Gard said. “He didn’t force things. He let the game come to him and when it was time to make plays down the stretch he made a lot of plays.”
Wahl (11.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg) contributed 11 points, five rebounds and two assists. His work on the defensive end, however, was his No. 1 asset.
“Not only does he have three years of experience, he has the versatility at 6-8 or 6-9 to guard everybody,” Gard said. “He is arguably our best defensive player or our most versatile defensive player.”
Davison, 1 of 12 from three-point range (8.3%) in the previous two games, was 0 of 3 from three-point range and 0 of 6 in the opening half. He hit 2 critical three-pointers after halftime and finished with eight points.
Chucky Hepburn was superb and contributed 11 points, three assists and three rebounds.
“He is great,” Wahl said. “He gets asked to do a lot on this team. He is asked to run the offense, play defense on the point guards, against a lot of older guys. I think he has just done a great job all year.”
Steven Crowl added six points, four rebounds and two assists and reserves Ben Carlson, Lorne Bowman, Chris Vogt and Jahcobi Neath combined for nine points, nine rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal.
UW hit just 14 of 22 free throws but put the game away by hitting 7 of 8 in the final 1 minute 28 seconds. They finished at 47.2% shooting, their best effort since shooting 51.9% on Jan. 18 at Northwestern.
Marcus Bingham Jr., averaging 9.7 points per game, scored 11 points in the opening half to keep the Spartans close. He finished with a team-high 17 points.
Malik Hall killed UW in the teams’ first meeting with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. He had quiet 12 points Tuesday.
UW took the lead for good 2:11 into the game on a basket by Crowl, led by as many as 10 points in the first half and then gradually took command after Hauser scored to pull the Spartans within 45-44 with 9:08 left.
Davison hit a three, Hepburn hit a jumper, Wahl scored inside and Davis scored in the lane to help UW push the lead to 61-51 with 1:46 left.
The Badgers were in the clear.
“Tonight we were just the team that wanted it more,” Davis said.
Michigan State’s players, who talked about being out-worked from the start, concurred.
“It’s all about finishing and that is one thing we’ve been harping on the entire year,” said forward Gabe Brown, limited to seven points. “We didn’t finish.”
UW was the better team on this night – from start to finish.
“Obviously extremely proud of my group in that locker room,” Gard said. “The grit and the perseverance and the togetherness that they showed.
“Obviously (beat) a really good team, coached by a terrific coach. I knew we were going to have to play really well to come in here and be able to accomplish this.
“I’m just proud of the guys wearing that uniform.”
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism