Tyler Wahl had 19 points and AJ Storr added 16 as No. 21 Wisconsin pulled away in the second half for an 83-72 victory over visiting Iowa in a Big Ten game in Madison on Tuesday night.
Max Klesmit added 15 points and Steven Crowl had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Badgers (10-3, 2-0), who were tied 32-32 with the Hawkeyes the break.
Tony Perkins had 25 points and Owen Freeman had 14 points and 13 boards for Iowa (8-6, 0-3). Ben Krikke, the Hawkeyes leading scorer at 17 points per game, had 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, but was limited to 20 minutes with foul trouble.
Chucky Hepburn scored his first points of the game on a lay-in that capped an 8-0 run that put Wisconsin in front 61-52 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Iowa pulled within 65-59, but the Badgers pushed the lead back to 71-59 on Storr’s lay-in with 6:20 left.
Wisconsin hit 6 of 7 shots over a span of almost six minutes to push its lead to 78-67 with 2:47 left.
The Badgers shot 58.3 percent in the second half, making 14 of 24 shots, en route to their fourth consecutive win over the Hawkeyes.
Wahl hit 11 of 13 free throws as the Badgers were 25 of 35 from the line, while the Hawkeyes were 11 of 16. Iowa also committed 14 turnovers, leading to 24 Wisconsin points.
Perkins hit a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 run and put the Hawkeyes up 32-26 with 2:07 left in the half.
Iowa missed its final five shots of the half, allowing Wisconsin to pull even at the break.
The Hawkeyes were 5 of 12 from beyond the arc in the first half, including 3-of-8 shooting by Payton Sandfort, but the Badgers countered with a 22-10 edge on points in the paint.
Each team had eight turnovers in the first half.
–Field Level Media
