Wisconsin basketball cruised to an 86-55 win over Ball State on Tuesday night.
The win followed a similar script to each of the Badgers’ first two triumphs of the season; Greg Gard’s team struggled to create early separation, leading just 36-29 at halftime, before capturing control in the second half. The team quickly extended that seven-point advantage to 17 in three minutes at the start of the second frame, in essence icing the game.
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Forward Nolan Winter led the Badgers’ scoring efforts, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 2-of-3 from 3. He also tallied 10 rebounds, two assists and three blocks. Other than his game-leading double-double, Wisconsin got steady scoring contributions from down the lineup, as forward Austin Rapp (11 points), wing Andrew Rodhe (10 points), guard Nick Boyd (12 points) and reserve guard Braeden Carrington (12 points) all finished in double figures.
The Badgers as a team shot an impressive 50% from the field and 36.8% from 3. Their dominance mostly showed up on defense, as they held Ball State to just 55 total points on 34% shooting.
The triumph is Wisconsin’s third straight to begin the year, all of which have been by at least 25 points. That strong early form has the team up to No. 16 in KenPom and No. 20 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index. It will get a chance to back up those high rankings when it travels to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a showdown against No. 7 BYU.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Recapping Wisconsin basketball’s win over Ball State
