Hot shooting carries Wisconsin Badgers to victory in tour Down Under

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

TAURANGA, New Zealand - A deeper three-point line didn't prevent the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team from shooting lights out as the Badgers ran away with an 87-53 victory over the New Zealand Breakers on Thursday.

The Badgers shot 45.3% from the field and 50% (15 for 30) from beyond the International three-point line, which is about a foot and a half deeper than the NCAA line.

"I thought we were much more relaxed from the start," UW head coach Greg Gard said. "I thought defensively we were really good the whole game for the most part.

"I thought we could make some monumental jumps from game one to game two. That was really the challenge to the players, that we've got to be better tonight than we were two days ago. For the most part we were."

The Badgers jumped out to an 11-0 lead and were up, 45-24, at the half.

Redshirt junior Andy Van Vliet paced a balanced attack for UW with 14 points, including a 4-of-5 effort from downtown, and seven rebounds. D'Mitrik Trice chipped in 12 and freshmen Kobe King and Nate Reuvers had nine points apiece.

The Badgers improved to 2-0 on their five-game tour, which now takes them to Australia for games against the Hawthorn Magic in Melbourne on Saturday, Melbourne United on Sunday and the Sydney Kings on Tuesday.