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MADISON – Wisconsin frequently displayed a warm, inviting fireplace graphic on the Kohl Center video board, complete with brick around the fireplace, stacks of firewood on each side and “staying warm with Wisconsin basketball” text.
The play on the court was even more picturesque for much of the second half as the Badgers used a big run in the second half to blow past Central Michigan, 88-61, on Dec. 22 at the Kohl Center.
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Wisconsin outscored Central Michigan in the second half, 48-33, and many of CMU’s second-half points came when the game was already well out of reach. The Badgers had a 25-3 scoring run, which quickly turned a 13-point lead into a 35-point lead.
Box score: Wisconsin 88, Central Michigan 61
The Badgers won with their bench players taking on bigger roles.
Austin Rapp had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting along with seven rebounds. Braeden Carrington, three days after missing the Villanova game with an injury, had nine points off the bench.
The only two bench players who did not score were Isaac Gard and Riccardo Greppi, and they only played one minute and 23 seconds. UW’s 44 bench points were its most in a game since at least the 2006-07 season, according to UW sports information.
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“This group needs to continue to do it by committee, and it was good to see a lot of guys step up,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said.
Here are three other takeaways from the Badgers’ 27-point win over the Chippewas:
Ball movement was strength again for Wisconsin offensively
Wisconsin’s ball movement has been quite the harbinger for success in 2025-26.
It has appeared to be a major strength for the Badgers at times, like when they had 15 assists on 17 field goals in the first half against Northwestern. But at the same time, Wisconsin had more turnovers than assists in three of its four losses this season. (Most recently, UW had 15 assists versus 16 turnovers in its Dec. 19 loss to Villanova in Milwaukee.)
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The Badgers were back in sync…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/wisconsin-bench-delivers-win-vs-060345284.html
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Publish date : 2025-12-23 06:03:00
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