Wisconsin defeats their biggest rival, Marquette

Coach Maurice "Bo" Ryan earned his 100th victory at the University of Wisconsin - Madison by defeating Marquette 77-63. Ryan said after the game it was especially satisfying since Marquette is Wisconsin-Madison's most important rival.

The game was a fast paced affair early as both teams got up and down the court at a frenetic pace. Wisconsin jumped out to an early lead on some 3 point shooting by Chris Rock...err Kam Taylor. MU bounced back with some nice play by Chris Grimm to take a 23-19 lead midway through the first half. The Badgers responded and took the lead for good 26-25 on a layup by Nixon. They continued to close out the half with a 23-10 run putting MU down 44-31 at the half. That was the killer run of the game as the second half was decided by just one point.

The Golden Eagles were plagued with 11 first half turnovers to only 2 by the Badgers.

MU scored the first 4 points of the second half and on several occasions closed to withing 10 late in the game but could not mount any significant run. Steve Novak led with 14 points while freshman Dominic James had 10.

Jerel McNeal and Dan Fitzgerald both fouled out. MU was whistled for 28 fouls to the Badgers 16 and received 12 more free throw attempts than Marquette. In the last three games in Madison, MU has taken on average 13 fewer free throws than the Badgers and they simply weren't able to overcome those advantages in other areas. In years past, the fouls were a huge factor in the outcome. This year they were not, many of the ft's coming at the end of the game. MU just shot poorly and despite outrebounding UW-Madison and holding Tucker to 8 points, they were simply not the better team today.

Next year's game will be at Marquette. The two schools have won the last 5 games on their home court. MU's turn in 2006.

Here is the ESPN Box Score