With depth and hot shooting, Wisconsin overpowers Nebraska for its third Big Ten win

MADISON – If you needed to be reminded that this Wisconsin team is deeper, more versatile and more explosive than the version fans saw last season, Greg Gard’s players did so Saturday at the Kohl Center.

UW shot 59.4% in building a 13-point halftime lead, had five players score at least 10 points and saw its bench generate 36 points en route to a comfortable 88-72 victory over Nebraska.

"This is a team – when they’re hitting their shots – it is one of the top teams in the country," Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. "They stepped up with a lot of confidence and hit their shots."

The No. 21 Badgers (11-3, 3-0 Big Ten) are the only Big Ten team without a loss in league play. They also won their fourth consecutive game and 10th in the last 11.

More: Wisconsin 88, Nebraska 72

Nebraska (12-3, 2-2) saw its winning streak end at five games.

You want balanced scoring and scoring punch from the bench?

Gard’s players obliged.

Tyler Wahl capped his day with his first three-pointer of the season and finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Nebraska native Chucky Hepburn, who played 25 minutes Tuesday against Iowa, was outstanding Saturday. Hepburn contributed 13 points, six assists, three steals and two rebounds in 33 minutes.

AJ Storr finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Steven Crowl added nine points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Led by guard Connor Essegian, UW’s reserves contributed 36 points.

Essegian entered the game with 12 minutes 5 seconds left in the first half and buried his first three-pointer just 36 seconds later. He came in 6 of 24 from three-point range and hit 3 of 5 attempts in the opening half.

Essegian finished 4 of 7 from three-point range, for a season-high 12 points.

More: Connor Essegian gives Wisconsin another scorer, but Greg Gard focuses on all-around effort

Fellow reserves John Blackwell (12 points, three rebounds), Kamari McGee (five points, one rebound, one steal), Nolan Winter (five points, one rebound) and Carter Gilmore (two points, one assist) helped the bench contribute 36 points and take pressure off the starters.

"We get that second group in, get the third group in and you don’t really see a dip in the numbers," Wahl said. "Or if there is, it’s not too much. You’re not really stressing about the next group coming in. When we get (any) group of five out there, they’re putting in their best effort and trying to stick to what we do."

Keisei Tominaga scored 17 points and Rienk Mast added 16 for Nebraska, which shot 46.2% from three-point range (12 of 26) and 49.1% overall (26 of 53).

"Offensively, we played good enough to win," Hoiberg said.

Not defensively, as UW hit 13 of 26 three-pointers (50.0%) and 33 of 60 shots overall (55.0%).

UW hadn't shot better than 54.0% in a Big Ten game since hitting 29 of 48 shots (60.4%) in a 92-78 victory over Indiana on Feb. 3, 2015.

Hoiberg was asked to list what the Badgers do well offensively.

He smirked and offered this:

"Well, they post it, they shoot it and they drive it," he said. "Other than that, not too much."

UW never trailed and led for 38:25.

In addition to hitting a season-high 13 three-pointers, the Badgers outscored Nebraska, 36-18, in the paint and limited their turnovers to only eight.

The low turnover total was critical because the Cornhuskers had forced 19 turnovers Tuesday in their 86-70 victory over Indiana. They turned those mistakes into 27 points.

UW finished with a 17-12 edge in points off turnovers Saturday.

"Taking care of the ball and making good decisions is something we talk about from the day they walk in the door," Gard said. "That is usually the first thing they hear from me."

When you take care of the ball you get more chances to score and UW took advantage Saturday.

The Badgers made 7 of 13 three-pointers (53.8%) and 19 of 32 shots overall (59.4%) in building a 51-38 halftime lead.

UW played 35 games last season and scored 40 or more points in a half just 13 times. This team has scored 40 or more points in a half nine times, including three times with at least 50 points.

The 51 points were also the most UW has scored in a half under Gard. UW now has scored at least 80 points in back-to-back Big Ten games for the first time since the 2014-2015 team, which reached the national title game.

The result Saturday was dramatically different from the teams’ last meeting, which took place last season in Lincoln.

In that game, Nebraska overcame a 17-point deficit in the final 16:01 of regulation to force overtime and then outscored UW, 12-2, in the extra period for a 73-63 victory.

The Badgers on Saturday showed they are a different team by scoring at least 70 points for the eighth consecutive game.

"I thought up and down the lineup we got great contributions," Gard said. "Just a lot of good things across the board."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers use depth to beat Nebraska 88-72 at the Kohl Center