Wisconsin fans got a tasty appetizer to Saturday night's Big Ten Championship Game, watching their Badgers grab a blowout win on the hardwood.
Wisconsin trailed by three at halftime but used a monster of a second half to steamroll visiting Oklahoma, the 17th-ranked Badgers cruising to a 90-70 win at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers shot a scorching 63.3 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring the Sooners by 23 after halftime. Wisconsin was 19-for-30 from the field and 8-for-14 from 3-point range over the game's final 20 minutes.
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The Badgers didn't own their first lead of the game until Zak Showalter hit a 3-pointer not four minutes into the second half, and it was a Bronson Koenig 3 that put them ahead for good with 11 and a half minutes to play. That shot was the start of a jaw-dropping 20-2 run for Wisconsin that featured two Koenig triples and was finished off with back-to-back 3s from Nigel Hayes and D'Mitrik Trice to give the Badgers their biggest lead to that point at 17. That gap never got smaller than 12 and grew as big as 20 by game's end.
Hayes had a huge day with a season-high 28 points and six assists, but he was hardly alone. Koenig, Trice and Ethan Happ each scored 16 points, Koenig and Trice splashing home four 3-pointers apiece and Happ adding nine rebounds.
Wisconsin reaped the benefits of a sloppy day by Oklahoma. The Sooners turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 24 points for the Badgers.
After losing to North Carolina in the Maui Invitational championship game, Wisconsin has three straight wins, including back-to-back victories at home over Power Five conference opponents Syracuse and Oklahoma by a combined 37 points. The 7-2 Badgers have four more non-conference games — including a matchup with in-state rival Marquette next Saturday — before the start of Big Ten play.