Tyler Wahl scores 19 points as Wisconsin pulls away in second half to beat Iowa

MADISON – Greg Gard isn’t going to archive video of this game in the section of his library labeled aesthetically pleasing basketball.

Wisconsin in the opening half looked like a team that hadn’t played in 10-plus days, with turnovers and defensive miscues coming in bunches.

The 21st-ranked Badgers battled back to forge a halftime tie, however, and then gradually regained their form to grind out an 83-72 victory over Iowa as four of the five starters scored in double figures Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.

"For having 10 or 11 days off, I thought we responded," said Gard, whose team last played on Dec. 22 against Chicago State. "I thought we looked a little rusty early. But any win in this league is important and you take them when you can get them."

The Badgers (10-3, 2-0 Big Ten) extended their winning streak against Iowa to four games and won for the ninth time in 10 games this season.

Iowa (8-6, 0-3) had won its last three games, all against non-conference foes. The Hawkeyes’ three Big Ten losses have come against UW, Purdue and Michigan.

Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl, averaging a combined 23.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, were outstanding Tuesday.

Wahl hit 11 of 13 free throws and finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Crowl contributed 14 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Crowl had 10 points and six rebounds in the second half when UW outscored Iowa, 51-40.

"Crowl I thought was terrific in the second half," Gard said. "Tyler Wahl – really efficient. He had 19 points on six shots and how he got to the line and converted at the line."

AJ Storr, coming off a college-high 29 points against Chicago State, finished with 16 points. He hit just 1 of 6 three-pointers but finished 7 of 13 overall.

Guard Max Klesmit, shooting just 31.8% from three-point range and 39.1% overall, hit 4 of 8 shots and 6 of 8 free throws and finished with 15 points and four assists.

Junior guard Chucky Hepburn, who suffered a groin injury against Chicago State, got the start. He was limited to 10 minutes in the first half but finished with four points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals in 25-plus minutes.

His biggest plays came in the second half after Iowa pulled within 61-55.

Hepburn poked the ball away from Tony Perkins (25 points) and into the hands of Klesmit. Klesmit passed ahead to Hepburn, who drove in and used the backboard to pass back to the trailing Storr for a dunk.

Hepburn poked the ball loose again on the next possession, took another pass from Klesmit and scored to give UW a 65-55 lead with 8 minutes 26 seconds left.

"The most he did was yesterday," Gard said of Hepburn's workload. "But I still kind of kept him on a pitch count. He hasn’t had a lot of hard running up and down. I wanted to get him in and out early (tonight) and let him settle into it."

BOX SCORE: Wisconsin 83, Iowa 72

Led by guard Kamari McGee, who played 10:09 in place of Hepurn, UW's bench contributed 15 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three assists.

McGee contributed two points, two rebounds two assists and three steals.

Klesmit was asked to describe what McGee provided Tuesday.

"Life," he said. "You look at the stat sheet and you see three steals. That is huge.

"Having a guy like that come off the bench like that and give life to us is big-time. That is a credit to Kam, just how hard he works. He is a really focused individual."

The Badgers came in averaging just 9.8 turnovers per game. They had three in the first two minutes, which allowed Iowa to build an 11-4 lead, and eight in the opening half. UW finished with 13 and Iowa had 14 points off those miscues.

UW turned 14 Iowa turnovers into 24 points and hit 20 of 26 free throws after halftime and 25 of 35 overall.

"We had some very uncharacteristic turnovers, particularly in the first half," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "We had it going pretty good offensively in the first half, had a lead. And they got some turnovers that turned into baskets. They’re a hard to team to stop anyway, but you don’t want to give them breakaway opportunities and easy baskets.

"(And) we foul way too much. This team is too good to put on the free-throw line 35 times…It’s hard to come back when you do that."

Gard's lone regret was that Connor Essegian didn't get into the game until the final minute and he wasn't able to play Markus Ilver and Isaac Lindsey. Gard lauded the work all three have put in at practice but stayed with his better defenders after the rocky start on that end of the court.

"I told them after the game this is not indicative of anything you have or haven’t done," he said. "It is a blessing and a curse to be a very, very deep team. I need the game to be longer than 200 minutes. But they’re here for the right reasons. They want to be a part of success.

"I just didn’t feel that we ever got our footing defensively. And I tried to keep our best defenders out there."

A masterpiece? Hardly. But UW found a way to win after a lengthy layoff.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers find their form in second half to pull away from Iowa