Freshman John Blackwell scored all 18 of his points in the second half as Wisconsin pulled away late for 78-68 nonconference victory over visiting Robert Morris on Friday night in Madison, Wis.
Tyler Wahl also had 18 points and Steven Crowl added 16 for Wisconsin (2-2), which was coming off losses to then-No. 9 Tennessee and Providence. Blackwell, 0-for-1 in the first half, made all four of his second-half field goal attempts. He went 2-of-3 from deep and 8-of-10 from the line.
Blackwell scored eight straight points on a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws to put Wisconsin up 68-56 with 5:22 remaining.
Robert Morris (1-3) stayed closed on long-range shooting, outscoring Wisconsin 39-9 from beyond the arc. The Colonials made 13 of 29 3-pointers, while the Badgers were 3 of 13.
Jackson Last had 16 points and TJ Wainwright 15 for Robert Morris.
The Colonials pulled even at 50-50 on a layup by Chris Ford with just less than 11 minutes left.
Wahl hit the first of two free throws, then scored on a driving jam to put Wisconsin up 56-50 with 9:27 left.
Wahl hit all five of his field-goal attempts and Crowl was 7-of-9 as the Badgers had a 42-16 advantage in the paint. Crowl and Wahl had a combined 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting in the 72-59 loss at Providence on Tuesday.
Robert Morris was called for 32 fouls, compared with 15 for Wisconsin, but the Badgers were just 27-of-40 from the line.
Wisconsin missed its first eight 3-point attempts before Chucky Hepburn hit from deep to put the Badgers up 48-45 with 12:13 left in the second half. At that point, Robert Morris had outscored Wisconsin 27-0 from deep.
Kamari McGee made two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to put Wisconsin up 37-35 at the half.
The Colonials stayed close throughout the first half. Robert Morris was 7-of-15 from deep, while Wisconsin missed all six 3-point attempts.
–Field Level Media
