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Landry, Wisconsin return to success at home vs. Minnesota

Feb 17, 2008 - 12:54 AM MADISON, Wisconsin (Ticker) -- Marcus Landry and his teammates came on late to re-establish Wisconsin's success at the Kohl Center.

Landry scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half as 14th-ranked Wisconsin used a big run after halftime to post a 65-56 victory over Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference matchup Saturday.

Brian Butch and Michael Flowers were two of four players to score 11 points for the Badgers (21-4, 11-2 Big Ten), who beat the Gophers for the sixth straight time and 15th in the last 17 meetings.

It was the first time that Wisconsin had five players score in double figures since a win over Northwestern on February 2, 2005.

"The irony is tomorrow we are celebrating the 1998 team in Platteville that had like nine guys between seven and 13 (points per game)," said Ryan, who was a longtime coach at Wisconsin-Platteville from 1984-99. "It reminds me of that kind of team right there. There are some guys getting in foul trouble, other guys picking them up, everybody contributing in one way or another. It's fun when you have a group of guys like that."

Successfully following up on a last-second 68-66 win at No. 12 Indiana on Wednesday, Wisconsin got back on track in controlling conference games here. In the seven seasons under coach Bo Ryan, the Badgers are 52-2 in Big Ten games at the Kohl Center.

That dominance was put into question following last Saturday's 72-67 loss here to Purdue. Minnesota might have believed that it had the chance to do the same, trailing just 27-26 at the break.

The Gophers (15-9, 5-7) then went on a 10-4 run inside the opening four minutes of the second half to take their largest lead of the game. Lawrence McKenzie and Lawrence Westbrook each hit a 3-pointer to highlight the burst.

"I thought we came ready to play today, unlike we did in Minneapolis," Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said. "We did some good things, we passed the ball better; we took care of the ball better." There was a stretch there where we couldn't score or get our shots to drop. That hurt us."

However, Wisconsin had faced tough challenges here from better teams, and countered with 14-4 run midway that last nearly seven minutes.

Jason Bohannon, who also finished with 11 points, ignited the burst with a layup and a 3-pointer. Landry added a pair of free throws and Flowers capped the burst with a basket from the arc to make it 52-45 with 5:49 left.

"I'd like to say it was coaching but we stuck to what we were doing and we just had better results," Ryan said. "It probably doesn't happen in the first ten minutes. That's exactly what type of game this was. We just remind guys of the things that we practiced the past two days to get ready for Minnesota."

The lead for the Badgers eventually grew to 13 points as the Gophers saw their two-game road winning streak in league play come to an end.

During that span, the Gophers missed 12 of 13 shots en route to shooting 31 percent (10-of-32) in the second half.

"There was a stretch there where we couldn't score or get our shots to drop," Smith said. "That hurt us."

Butch grabbed eight rebounds and Trevon Hughes added 11 points and six boards for Wisconsin, which edged Minnesota on the boards, 32-30.

Westbrook and Dan Coleman had 10 points apiece for Minnesota, which finished 33 percent (17-of-51) from the field and attempted 13 less fewer throws than Wisconsin's 33.