Wisconsin started the rest of Big Ten play on Tuesday night on the right foot as they were able to secure a 63-60 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
After both teams struggled to score in the opening minutes of the game, the Badgers were able to jump out to a 32-26 halftime lead, riding an 8-0 run to end the half, including back-to-back threes from Chucky Hepburn. They then opened the second half scoring the first seven points for a combined 15-0 run over the Gophers.
Wisconsin was able to ride that momentum in the second half and stretch their lead as big as 15 points.
But Minnesota was able to claw their way back into the game and pull within 1. However, they were never quite able to catch the Badgers. Wisconsin used a couple of clutch shots from Hepburn and a massive dunk from Steven Crowl to pull away enough at the end. After a missed free throw by Crowl, Minnesota got the ball for the final possession of the game with a chance to tie, but Hepburn got the steal and passed it out ahead to Gilmore to run out the clock.
Crowl and Hepburn led the scoring for Wisconsin once again. Crowl had 17 points and five rebounds while Hepburn had 16 points with four assists. Connor Essegian added 11 points.
Tyler Wahl left the game early with an injury and played just nine minutes.
Next up for Wisconsin is a road trip to Illinois on Saturday with tipoff set for 12:30.