Terriers Nip at Badgers, but Wisconsin Holds On

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Crazy, in a wonderful way, nearly worked for No. 13 Wofford.

No. 4 Wisconsin, making its 12th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, needed every bit of its experience, size advantage and a clutch shot to beat the Terriers 53-49 Friday at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Junior forward Jon Leuer drained a baseline jumper with 17 seconds remaining to snap a 49-49 tie and, following a Wofford turnover, added a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left to secure the dramatic win.

Wofford and Arkansas-Pine Bluff are the only schools in the field of 64 that haven't played in the NCAA tournament before.

Wisconsin (24-8) and Wofford (26-9) played two seasons ago, with Wisconsin winning 70-43. This one wasn't as easy as Badgers coach Bo Ryan also earned his 600th career victory.
"Well, we feel pretty good about advancing," Ryan said.

"We knew what they had. We knew what they were going to try to do, and they did it for the most part. That team, those guys are winners. They just win. And fortunately we were able to get one today on them."

Wofford coach Mike Young, whose team has won 13 consecutive games including the Southern Conference Tournament, said his team wouldn't be intimidated.

It wasn't.

The Terriers rallied from a 27-19 halftime deficit, draining their first eight field goals of the second half. The game featured seven ties and 11 lead changes. However, Wofford was held without a field goal for the final four minutes.

Young called his team "a little crazy in a wonderful way."

Leuer paced the Badgers with 20 points and eight rebounds. Jamar Diggs paced Wofford with 13 points.

KEY ELEMENT

Let's go with Wisconsin's poise.

Sure, Woffordled 49-48 with under two minutes to go, but turned the ball over twice and missed two crucial foul shots down the stretch. Still, the Badgers survived, they refused to rattle and and that's the name of the game at this point in the season.

Wofford out-rebounded the taller Badgers 37-30 and pressured the favorites into 37 percent shooting from the floor (20 of 54). Wisconsin, however, only had four turnovers and added four steals.

Ryan said he wasn't concerned that his team, despite its major height advantage, failed to control the glass.

"I've coached teams that were undersized and out rebounded bigger teams a lot," Ryan said.

"You can say sometimes it's the way the ball bounces. You can say sometimes it's the angles that guys get. You don't have to be huge to be a really good rebounder."

GAME BALL GOES TO

Badgers guard Trevon Hughes.

The 6-foot-10 Leuer was the shooting hero, but Hughes' all-out effort on both ends of the floor helped the Badgers survive. Hughes finished with 19 points and had one of Wisconsin's three assists -- and it was a big one. His pass to Leuer on the baseline proved to be the difference.

"Basically, I was looking to get into the paint, try to draw some guys in and actually his guy sagged off into the paint," Hughes explained.

"So he was open. I had to hit the open man, I can't be selfish, and he knocked down the shot."

HEART GOES OUT TO

Wofford guard Cameron Rundles.

Rundles and the Terriers played loose and with tons of enthusiasm. Following Leuer's baseline jumper Rundles dribbled down court near press row with a smile, mouthing, "Let's go, let's go." He made a nice move to his left towards Wofford's bench, but lost possession under defensive pressure near the baseline with 4.9 seconds remaining.

Young thought his team had retained possession.

"I thought it was our ball," Young said. "They didn't ask my opinion, so Badger ball, you know, we've got a problem."

Leuer was fouled on the ensuing in-bounds pass near midcourt and made both free throws to seal it. Rundles was in tears and had to be consoled by several teammates as they walked off the floor.


WHERE TO MOVE HERE

The Badgers move into Sunday's second-round against Cornell. The two teams have never met.

Since losing to Georgia Tech in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament, Wisconsin has won eight of its last nine opening-round games.

SOUNDBITE

"I just kind of found a soft spot and Trevon made a good play, and that was that." -- Wisconsin's Jon Leuer.