My life expectancy has again decreased thanks to Wisconsin sports.
The Wisconsin Badgers (17-13, 9-11 B1G) avoided what would have been a horrible loss to the their arch-rival, the Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-21, 2-17 B1G), and left Minneapolis with a 71-67 victory to end the regular season with a sweep of their rivals in the Border Battle.
After so many disappointments, after gut punch after gut punch, so much heartbreak in games decided by five points or less, the Wisconsin Badgers had the answers down the stretch, none bigger than Chucky Hepburn’s step back 3-pointer that was a back-breaker for the Gophers. Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl dominated inside, with the defense emerging in the second half.
UW is now 11-7 (.611) in games decided by five points or less.
Max Klesmit didn’t light up the stat sheet with points Sunday night, but he played some phenomenal defense.
Klesmit was the primary defender on Jamison Battle in both games this season. In the first game, Battle was 5-for-15 from the field and 2-of-7 from 3. Sunday night, Battle was 1 of 6 from 3-point range and 1 of 8 overall.
The Badgers made 14-of-17 (82.4%) of their free throws tonight, which was a factor late in the game.
UW’s free throw shooting the last three games: 11 of 12, 5 of 5 and 14 of 17 for a total of 30 of 34.
Happy for the team to be able to get rewarded and come out on the winning side of one of these close games.
Up Next:
The Badgers will play the Ohio State Buckeyes (13-18) in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, March 8. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. (Central Time) and will be televised on the Big Ten Network (BTN).
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