Steven Crowl had 19 points and Tyler Wahl added 16 to lead No. 23 Wisconsin to a 75-60 nonconference victory over visiting Jacksonville State on Thursday night in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (8-3) bounced back from a 98-73 loss at top-ranked Arizona on Saturday, which snapped the Badgers’ six-game winning streak.
AJ Storr added 13 points for the Badgers. Crowl had nine rebounds and Wahl seven to pace Wisconsin to a 33-27 edge on the boards.
Wisconsin was 18 of 26 from the free-throw line, while the Gamecocks were 6 of 8. The Badgers also had a 40-20 edge on points in the paint.
KyKy Tandy had 16 points and Marcellus Brigham Jr. added 10 for Jacksonville State (4-7), which lost its third straight.
The Gamecocks got within 52-43 on two free throws by Caleb Johnson with 10:12 remaining. The Badgerrs pushed the lead to 61-43 before the Gamecocks’ Travis Roberts hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to snap a scoring drought of more than four minutes.
Jacksonville State, which trailed by 13 midway through the first half, pulled within 38-30 at the break on Ivan Reynolds’ uncontested 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer.
The Gamecocks scored the first four points of the second half to get within 38-34. The Badgers extended the lead to 44-34 before Tandy hit a 3-pointer to end another four-minute scoreless stretch.
Crowl scored on a layin to put Wisconsin up 27-14 with 7:14 left in the first half. Jacksonville State responded with a 10-2 run, pulling within 29-24 on two free throws by Tandy.
Brigham hit a 3-pointer to bring the Gamecocks within 30-27 with 3:30 left in the first half, but Wisconsin pushed the lead to 38-27.
The Gamecocks were hampered early inside when Juwan Perdue, the team’s leading rebounder, picked up his second foul less than two minutes in, and he did not return for 10 1/2 minutes. He finished with four points and two boards in 13 minutes.
–Field Level Media