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More: Cline sparks Purdue
Had Wisconsin's D'Mitrik Trice converted an open breakaway layup off a Purdue turnover with about 14 minutes to play Sunday, Wisconsin would have cut a double-digit Boilermaker lead down to just two.
In one of the biggest games of the season for both these teams, it would have been, in effect, a brand-new game.
Instead, Trice missed the layup, then Purdue scored the next 12 points, surging to a 66-55 win for the 20th-ranked Boilermakers over the 13th-ranked Badgers, a result that could loom large for Purdue as the Big Ten race unfolds. Wisconsin entered play today as the conference's lone unbeaten.
In its biggest game of the season, Purdue found its historical identity — defense — at an opportune time, stifling Wisconsin and holding down its outstanding trio of standouts — Nigel Hayes, Ethan Happ and Bronson Koenig.
Hayes, a versatile forward and one of the conference's trickiest defensive matchups, scored just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Happ, a crafty big man, Player-of-the-Year candidate and 67-percent shooter, got 17 points, but on just 7-of-16 efficiency.
"We felt like we could play really good defense with the way we matched up," Purdue big man Caleb Swanigan said.
But it's Koenig — Wisconsin's point guard and one of the top scoring guards in the Big Ten — that Purdue has always held a special regard for.
"We have all the respect in the world for Koenig," Coach Matt Painter said. "He makes them go."
Purdue's game-planned accordingly.
For the third straight meeting between these teams — all Boilermaker victories — Purdue quieted Koenig, in this case to the tune of an inconsequential nine points on 3-of-8 shooting.
It was part of one of the Boilermakers' finest defensive showings of the season, a performance it may have needed on this day given its turnover problems.
Purdue committed 18 of them, preventing the Boilermakers from opening up a sizeable first-half lead while shutting the Badgers down in the first 20 minutes.
Purdue shot 53 percent in the first half while Wisconsin shot 35, yet the Boilermakers got to halftime clinging to just a six-point lead, solely because of those turnovers.
On another day, such an issue might have spelled doom in a game like this.
"Our defense was good and our rebounding offset that," Painter said, after his team outrebounded Wisconsin 34-22.
It wasn't until around the time of that blown layup that Purdue shook the Badgers for good.
After Wisconsin's missed opportunity, P.J. Thompson missed a three. But Isaac Haas, playing inspired, it seemed, in his second game coming off the bench, fought for the offensive rebound.
He won that fight, kicking the ball right back out to Thompson, who buried the do-over shot, pushing Purdue's lead to seven and completing what amounted to a five-point swing.
It was a big play for Haas, who grabbed 10 rebounds in 20 minutes at Ohio State, then needed only 18 minutes against Wisconsin to net 13 points and grab five rebounds, four of them at the offensive end.
Haas was asked about his increased activity after the game, sitting next to Swanigan, who posted another superb 18-point, 13-rebound game, casting his eight turnovers into irrelevance.
"I have to give Biggie a little bit of credit for that," Haas said of his rebounding. "I watched some film on my own and how he just goes and gets it. … It was impressive. I've tried to just do that myself and so far it's paying off."
Haas' rebound and subsequent assist to Thompson for his mulligan three was a big play, making Wisconsin pay for squandering a golden opportunity.
Ryan Cline took it from there.
The sophomore buried a jumper to push the lead to nine, then generated a steal on the baseline at the other end and nailed a three-pointer. He capped off a personal seven-point run when he used a Haas screen, took an inbound pass and made another jumper.
For good measure, Cline passed on a three-on-one break off a steal to Swanigan, who was fouled. His two free throws capped a run of a dozen straight for the Boilermakers, who led 52-36 nearing the 10-minute mark.
"We gave ourselves chances (during the run) … we didn't turn the ball over," Swanigan said. "When we do that, we usually get good shots at the rim or we have good shooters around who can get hot. We ran three plays in a row for (Cline) and he hit all three of them.
"We want it to happen that way every game."
That it happened in this game was so important for Purdue, which can again say it just scored its biggest win of the season to date.
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