Wisconsin rallies to beat the Heels in last minutes

The top-seeded Wisconsin Badgers were down by seven points late in the second half, giving all those non-believing fans something to think about.  Indeed, their motto is Make ’em Believe, and after that game college basketball fans will start believing in the Badger squad. The Badgers rallied North Carolina in a game that the Tar Heels could’ve easily taken over and won.

” We don’t need to talk to each other too much,” fifth-year senior Josh Gasser said. ” You’ve just got to go out there and do it.”  Wisconsin was down 11 to Michigan State and won, and they were trailing by seven to North Carolina and come out with a victory.  The Badgers will play Arizona on Saturday night at 5:09 p.m., and if they win they will advance to the Final Four to play either Kentucky or Notre Dame.  Wisconsin met the Arizona Wildcats last season in the Elite Eight and the Badgers won 64-63 in overtime.

Sam Dekker was super for Wisconsin, scoring a career high, 23 points and he obtained 10 rebounds.  “If I use my athleticism the way I should I tend to be able to get there,” Dekker said when he was asked by a TBS reporter. ” I just try to stay in attack mode.  My shot wasn’t falling like I like it to be so I just tried to take it to the lane and get some easy buckets.”

Frank Kaminsky scored 19 points, 15 of them in the second half, and Nigel Hayes scored seven of his 12 points after the break.  The Tank made 8 of his eight free throws and the Badger converted 20 of their 23 attempts.

Wisconsin got a well needed effort off the bench by Germantown-native, Zak Showalter. Showalter scored five points and boarded on rebound.  Showalter came up huge dropping in back-to-back lay ups, which was the turning points for Wisconsin in the game.

Josh Gasser scored six points, four rebounds, and handed four assists. All of Gassers points were off of three pointers.

Wisconsin held Marcus Paige to 12 points, but Brice Johnson and Justin Jackson each scored 15 points.

After all, the Wisconsin Badgers proved they were elite in March.

 

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish left Wichita State in the dust and advanced to the Elite Eight to play Kentucky.  Demetrius Jackson led Notre Dame with 20 points, while Pat Connaughton scored 16. Fred Van Vleet scored the Shockers high, 25 points for Wichita State.