Wisconsin Badgers vs. Marquette Golden Eagles: Score, Highlights and Analysis

In the 122nd installment of the I-94 rivalry matchup between the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Wisconsin Badgers, Marquette edged out an impressive road win at the Kohls Center to extend their season winning streak to seven games.

Marquette forward Henry Ellenson, freshman, played magnificently against a Wisconsin Badgers team that persistently chose to double-team him during the game. Ellenson finished the game with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

Wisconsin struggled early in the game, but managed to mount a comeback late in the second half to tie the game at 55 apiece with under a minute to go. Wisconsin forward Nigel Hayes started out 1-for-9 from the floor, but made some critical buckets late—including the shot to tie the game—in Wisconsin’s late second half surge.

The field goal shooting percentage was the starkest disparity in the game: Marquette shot a stellar 52.2 percent from the floor, along with 60 percent from behind the stripe, while the Badgers were only able to connect on 36.4 percent of their shots. Both teams converted on 24 of their field goal attempts, but Wisconsin attempted 20 more shots than Marquette did.

Vitto Brown came up huge for Wisconsin, filling the stat sheet up with 15 points, eight rebounds, one assist, and two steals. However, most of his damage was inflicted in the first half, and it was clear that Marquette had a game plan in place coming out of the break to try and limit Brown’s looks.

With the win, Marquette improves to 8-2 on the season and will return home to face Chicago State (3-7) on Monday, December 21.  

Wisconsin, on the other hand, drops to 6-5 this season (4-3 at home) and will look to rebound against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-2) on Tuesday, December 15.

Both teams can take away a lot from this game, in terms of shooting, playmaking, protecting the ball, etc.

The fundamentals.

Marquette was efficient; Wisconsin was sloppy. Marquette proved that they can finish out a game strong; Wisconsin buried themselves early.

As the season progresses expect Wisconsin to adjust and improve in these areas, especially with legendary head coach Bo Ryan at the helm. But, in the meantime, Ellenson’s postgame remarks seem to be ringing true.

Right now, the best team in Wisconsin is the Marquette Golden Eagles.

Wisconsin 55, Marquette 57

Final