No. 4 Wisconsin Routs Gardner-Webb, 98-40, Wednesday
December 27, 2006 | Men's Basketball
MADISON, Wisc. - Fourth-ranked Wisconsin hit a season-high 12 three-pointers and cruised to a 98-40 rout of Gardner-Webb Wednesday night.
Gardner-Webb (2-9) wrapped up a brutal non-conference schedule in the process, as that slate was ranked the nation's 47th toughest heading into Wednesday's game. GWU is one of only two teams in the country at the Division I level to play two Associated Press top-5 teams on the road, along with Ohio State.
GWU gets its Atlantic Sun Conference schedule underway on January 2 at Jacksonville (8:15 pm ET).
The No. 4 Badgers (13-1) led just 9-8 with 11:37 left before halftime, but exploded on a 24-2 spurt - taking advantage of a barrage of unforced errors and ice-cold shooting by the visitors to take a 33-10 lead with 5:35 remaining before halftime.
Gardner-Webb missed its first six shots out of the gate, and missed on 12 of its first 16 chances over the game's first 16 minutes. Throw in 12 turnovers during that same span, and the Badgers continued to pull away to lead 39-13 at the first half's four-minute mark.
Wisconsin led 52-19 at the break, shooting 59.4 percent from the floor and scoring 21 points off of 14 GWU turnovers. Gardner-Webb shot just 33.3 percent for the half (7-of-21) and were limited to just three offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes.
The 33-point halftime deficit was the Bulldogs' second largest of the season, just off the 37-point margin on Nov. 19 at No. 2 North Carolina (57-19).
The spurts and runs continued in favor of Wisconsin in the second half, and the Badgers surged out to a 78-32 lead with 7:55 to play. Gardner-Webb had no answer defensively for the Badgers' sudden success from three-point range, and when the final buzzer sounded the home team had made 12-of-20 shots from long distance.
Ricky McPhee hit 6-of-11 shots (4-for-8 from three-point range) to lead Gardner-Webb with 17 points, but Gardner-Webb shot just 30.6 percent from the floor (15-of-49) and coughed up 20 turnovers that led to a 28-2 edge for Wisconsin in points off those miscues.
Brian Butch led four Wisconsin players in double digits with 17 points, covering up a 4-for-12 shooting night by the Big Ten's leading scorer, Alando Tucker (11 points).
