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Wisconsin gets past Michigan in Big Ten quarters

Mar 14, 2008 - 8:44 PM INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Wisconsin is no longer winless as the top seed in the Big Ten Conference tournament.

Michael Flowers and Marcus Landry keyed an early second-half run as the sixth-ranked Badgers pulled away from Michigan for a 51-34 victory in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament on Friday.

The Wolverines' point total was the lowest in the tournament's history.

"The scout team did a great job of preparing us for this game," Flowers said. "Last game we played them at home they outrebounded us, they were physically more dominant than we were. So we wanted to come out here and put our foot down and play Wisconsin basketball. And that's hard, in-your-face defense."

Wisconsin (27-4) was the top seed in 2002 and 2003 but failed to win a game in the tourney after being ousted in the quarterfinals by Iowa and Ohio State, respectively.

But courtesy of Friday's hard-fought win, the Badgers will face either Michigan State in Saturday's first semifinal.

Leading only 26-23 early in the second half, Flowers drained a 3-pointer and Landry scored six straight points to give the Badgers a 35-23 lead at the 14:34 mark.

"(Landry) is an inside and an outside player who has gotten better in his all-around game," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "That does cause some problems for the other team. Not that the other teams don't have guys that are similar. But I like what Marcus is getting out of his opportunities. So I love coaching guys that are opportunistic. And he's one of them."

Michigan (10-22) responded with a 3-pointer by Anthony Wright, then Flowers responded with a pair of free throws to give Wisconsin a 37-26 lead with just under 14 minutes left.

The Wolverines would only get within nine points on two more occasions in the latter stages of the second half as the Badgers pulled away.

Flowers finished with 11 points and shut down Michigan leading scorer Manny Harris, a freshman who was held to just four points on 1-of-12 shooting from the field.

"You know, nobody ever wants to get scored on, and that's what I pride myself on is really stopping my opponent and causing him havoc and just disrupting the flow of his game," Flowers said. "Doing that ultimately benefits my team."

Joe Krabbenhoft led Wisconsin with 12 points and seven rebounds. Landry added eight points and seven rebounds for the Badgers, who shot 34 percent (17-for-50) from the field.

Anthony Wright paced Michigan with 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. As a team, the Wolverines shot just 20 percent (10-for-50) from the field and turned the ball over 14 times.

"Wisconsin certainly did a great job defensively against us today," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "And they've done that. We're not the lone rangers in this. And I was really proud of the way we defended. But we could not throw the ball in the ocean today. And you gotta do a little of that."