Badgers rally to upset 1 seed Villanova

WISCONSIN 65

VILLANOVA 62

Buffalo N.Y. ~ The Wisconsin Badgers rallied back down by seven and finished on a 15-5 run to take down the defending champions, Villanova Wildcats. There would be no buzzer beating shots to win it or confetti and trophy presenting for the Wildcats this year as they fell to the 8 seeded Badgers.

Nigel Hayes played his best game of the season, scoring 19 points and made a spin move layup with 11.4 seconds left to give Wisconsin the lead. Bronson Koenig battled foul trouble and scored 17 points for the Badgers who advanced to the Sweet Sixteen and will play the Florida Gators at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday.

After shrugging off an extremely low seed the Badgers came firing over the opening weekend. After beating Virginia Tech in the first round 84-74 Wisconsin rallied to beat Villanova with fire in their stomachs.

Josh Hart led the Wildcats with 19 but the point guard couldn’t do anything in crunch time when he drove to the basket during the final seconds only to have the ball stripped from him by Ethan Happ and Vitto Brown. Brown then made one of his two free throws with 4 second remaining and Villanova struggled to get of a final shot.

Villanova is the first 1 seed to be sent home this year as they were trying to become the first team since 2007 to win back-to-back national titles.

As for the Badgers they took down they’ve taken down a 1 seed for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. Wisconsin beat Arizona in 2014, Kentucky in 2015, and now Villanova in 2017.

The Wisconsin Badgers showed toughness and grit as the underdog to take down the mighty Villanova Wildcats.

By Jacob Szczap