Taylor leads way as Badgers rout North Carolina State

Junior Jordan Taylor didn't shy away from his responsibility as Wisconsin's lead guard.

With UW coming off a loss in the title game of the Old Spice Classic, Taylor reminded himself to attack the basket and provide a different look for an offense that had become hesitant and too perimeter-oriented.

True to his word, Taylor set the tone early in UW's matchup with visiting North Carolina State Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

With Taylor attacking the lane, UW's offense flowed from inside-out and the Badgers got a plethora of high-percentage shots en route to a surprisingly easy 87-48 victory in front of a crowd of 17,230 at the Kohl Center.

Taylor scored 14 of his 21 points in the first half to help UW build a 44-21 lead. Taylor (8-of-12-shooting) finished with three assists and just one turnover in 29 minutes as UW helped the Big Ten win the challenge for the second consecutive season.

"He is an intelligent player," UW coach Bo Ryan said. "He knows what makes a team more effective than not. And probing is something we always talk about with our lead guards . . . 

"Jordan understands what it takes."

The Badgers (5-2), who scored 51 points in the loss to Notre Dame in the Old Spice Classic, hit 13 of 26 field-goal attempts and got to the free-throw line often (13 of 16) in the first 20 minutes Wednesday night.

They finished 11 of 20 from three-point range (55%), with many of the three-pointers coming after the ball had penetrated the interior of the defense; made 28 of 56 field-goal attempts overall; and made 20 of 26 free-throw attempts compared with just 8 of 13 for the Wolfpack.

"Tonight I was trying to get into the lane more, trying to attack and create for other people," Taylor said. "But I think everybody was being more aggressive."

Include senior forward Jon Leuer in that group. Leuer fought for good position and scored 13 of his 22 points in the first half. He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to help UW win that battle, 41-30.

"We were making hard cuts, and they have to defend them," Leuer said when asked about UW's big edge at the free-throw line. "A lot of times when you make hard cuts like that they're going to grab and hold and the officials were seeing that.

"That's how we were able to build up a lot of fouls against them. That and getting the ball inside."

Sophomores Jared Berggren (12 points), Mike Bruesewitz (nine points) and Ryan Evans (nine points) combined to score 30 points for UW. Berggren and Bruesewitz each went 3 for 3 from three-point range.

"The guys haven't panicked," Ryan said. "They just ran good offense, got good looks and the shots went down."

The Wolfpack (4-2), playing without senior forward Tracy Smith (knee) and playing a road game for the first time this season, was disjointed on offense and careless with the basketball.

North Carolina State entered the night averaging 27.4 free-throw attempts and 11.8 turnovers per game.

The Wolf Pack attempted three free throws, had 11 turnovers in the first half and looked helpless as UW put together a 15-0 run over the final 6 minutes 11 seconds of the half.

That run grew to 23-0 as North Carolina State went scoreless over the first 3:35 of the second half.

"I really don't have much to say," said North Carolina State coach Sidney Lowe, whose team made 18 of 57 field-goal attempts (31.6%). "They played well. They shot the ball well. They executed, and we didn't."