• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Wisconsin dumps Michigan for nation's best 16th straight win

Jan 25, 2007 - 9:09 AM MADISON, Wisconsin (Ticker) -- Alando Tucker came alive in the second half to keep Wisconsin unblemished in the Big Ten Conference.

Tucker scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half as the third-ranked Badgers eventually pulled away for a 71-58 victory over Michigan.

Brian Butch also scored 16 points for Wisconsin (20-1, 6-0 Big Ten), which extended the nation's longest winning streak to 16 games. The Badgers also set a school record for most consecutive wins, topping the previous mark last accomplished in 1941.

Despite receiving just three points from leading scorer Tucker in the opening 20 minutes due to foul trouble, Wisconsin was still able to forge a 33-26 edge at the half. Butch had seven points and Kammron Taylor chipped in six of his eight.

"That just shows you how good they are as well," said Michigan coach Tommy Amaker about not being able to take advantage of Tucker's absence. "You can't think that because he's not in, that is going to allow teams to win ball games against Wisconsin. They are very talented, very deep and I thought the players that came off the bench for them made the difference."

Tucker was forced to bench with 11:57 remaining in the first half and Michigan leading, 11-9, after getting charged with two quick fouls in a 20-second span.

Despite the deficit and the long time to go before the half, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan was not tempted to keep Tucker in the game.

"I just wasn't going to have him out on the court with the way things were going," Ryan said. "I wanted him to have at least three fouls (remaining) in the second half. Some teams will play, some coaches will play a guy with two, I just wasn't going to do it. The other guys picked him up and they did a good job of it."

Without its top player, Wisconsin rallied, going on a 17-10 run over the next eight-plus minutes to take a 28-19 lead with 3:23 to play. Taylor had six points and Butch five during the spurt.

"They were extremely aggressive, got to the line," Ryan said. "If you start standing around, nothing good is going to happen. I thought the guys were moving well away from the ball."

Butch continued to help carry the Badgers in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring five points inside the opening seven minutes to extend the advantage to 47-31 with 13:16 remaining.

Tucker finished 6-of-9 from the field and Butch, who entered the contest with just a 4.6 scoring average in league games, 6-of-8 for Wisconsin, which shot 54 percent (26-of-48).

Marcus Landry added eight points off the bench along with reserve Joe Krabbenhoft, who scored six. In all, the Badgers' bench held a 23-13 scoring advantage over the Wolverines'.

Courtney Sims scored 16 points and Lester Abrams 10 for the Wolverines (16-5, 4-2), who committed 19 turnovers in losing on the road for the third time in four games.

"I thought the turnovers we had and our inability to handle the basketball and to have positive possessions on the offensive end really doomed us," Amaker said. "It's no question that we had silly turnovers and that was one of the things we talked about coming in here. When you play on the road, you have to take care of the basketball and we weren't very good at that tonight."