After salvaging a West Coast split, Wisconsin will be looking to bolster its postseason seeding when the Badgers close out their home schedule against Maryland on Wednesday in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (20-9, 12-6 Big Ten) won 90-73 at Washington on Saturday behind a career-high 32 points from reserve guard Braeden Carrington, who drained a school-record nine 3-pointers.
Maryland (11-18, 4-14 Big Ten) lost 69-65 to Rutgers at home Sunday.
Wisconsin bounced back against Washington after a disappointing 85-71 loss at Oregon earlier in the week that dropped the Badgers out of the Top 25.
“Just the response, the bounce back, I thought we played with great energy,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said following the Washington game. “It was a choppy game, it was kind of herky-jerky at times, but we were able to stay true to who we needed to be.”
Wisconsin owns a 14-2 home record and is tied for fifth in the Big Ten with No. 15 Purdue, a game behind No. 11 Illinois. The Badgers close the regular season Saturday at Purdue, which handed Wisconsin one of its two home losses 89-73 in early January.
The top four teams receive a triple bye directly into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. Wisconsin could be seeded anywhere from third to seventh.
Carrington, who transferred to Wisconsin for his senior season, hit 9 of 15 shots beyond the arc against Washington, including six during the team’s 54-point second half. Nick Boyd added 22 points as the Badgers improved to 18-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points.
Boyd averages 20.3 points, John Blackwell scores 18.3 points and Nolan Winter adds 13.5 points, along with a team-best 8.7 rebounds.
Maryland trailed 39-20 at the half against Rutgers but rallied for a brief lead before losing for the fourth time in five games. Andre Mills and Elijah Saunders had double-doubles for the Terrapins.
“There’s always three parts with good programs, good teams,” Maryland coach Buzz Williams said afterward. “You have to play really hard, you have to prepare the right way and then you have to execute. We didn’t do all three of those things, particularly in the first half.”
David Coit scores 14 points for Maryland and Mills’ average of 11.7 received a substantial boost from his recent 39-point effort against Northwestern. Solomon Washington pulls down a team-best 9.3 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
