Wisconsin 64, Penn State 63: UW rebounds from an ugly home loss to even its Big Ten mark

​STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – When was the last time a Wisconsin victory over Penn State was noteworthy and critical?

UW’s 64-63 victory over the Nittany Lions Monday night at the Bryce Jordan Center fit that description.

Why? Because it came just two days after Wisconsin suffered an embarrassing 83-58 loss to Ohio State, the Badgers’ worst defeat at the Kohl Center. 

"We needed this one bad," said sophomore guard D'Mitrik Trice, who hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 34.5 seconds and finished with nine points and three assists. "To be on the road and coming off a bad game. …

"We kind of just flushed out Saturday. That wasn’t how we play. It wasn’t Wisconsin basketball. We didn’t have any energy. We just focused on coming out and competing really, really hard from the beginning."

BOX SCORE:Wisconsin 64, Penn State 63

UW (4-5, 1-1 Big Ten) looked nothing like the team that let Ohio State get any shot it desired as the Badgers built a 17-point lead in the second half Monday.

They never trailed after that but needed four free throws by Trice and a hustle play from Aleem Ford with six-tenths of a second left to secure the victory.

Ford missed the first of bonus free throws with UW leading, 64-63, with 13.2 seconds left. 

Penn State’s Tony Carr missed a three-pointer from the right wing, and Ford hustled to tie up Lamar Stevens in the corner.

UW inbounded the ball and time expired. 

"It hasn’t been an easy 48 hours after our game on Saturday," UW coach Greg Gard said. "It is nice to see them bounce back and look more like Wisconsin, more like a Wisconsin team should look.

"Just happy for our guys because they worked extremely hard." 

Khalil Iverson, who was scoreless in 12 minutes against Ohio State, scored 14 points in the opening half to help UW take a 31-25 lead and finished with 16 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Several players challenged Iverson after his performance against the Buckeyes and he responded.  

"I think I just came out from the start being aggressive," said Iverson, who hit 7 of 8 field-goal attempts. "It gave us some energy."

Freshman Nate Reuvers, subbing for a foul-plagued Ethan Happ, added 11 points and four rebounds.

Freshman Kobe King hit 2 of 2 three-pointers and added eight points and three rebounds. Sophomore Brevin Pritzl played a solid floor game and contributed six points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Ford contributed five points and four rebounds. 

Happ was active early but was limited to 28 minutes because of foul problems He fouled out with 14.7 seconds left and finished with nine points, 10 rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.

Freshman guard Brad Davison didn't score and fouled out with 43 seconds left but still contributed two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Gard played eight players and all eight contributed. 

"The Big Ten, in general, is hard," Happ said of the victory. "Big Ten on the road is even harder."

Mike Watkins led Penn State (7-3, 1-1) with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks but he didn't get enough help.

Carr came in shooting 47.4% and averaging a team-high 20.8 points per game. He finished with 16 points but was 0 of 3 from three-point range and 5 of 22 overall. UW's defense was sticky but the sophomore guard forced up several tough shots. 

"We made life hard for them, specifically Tony Carr," Gard said.

The Nittany Lions hit 12 of 23 three-pointers in beating Iowa on Saturday but hit just 2 of 14 against UW.

"We missed a few tonight that we normally hit," said Penn State senior guard Shep Garner, who scored 13 points. "But it was a one-possession game...

"They had lost a couple in a row. I knew Wisconsin was going to be ready to play today."

Unlike Saturday against Ohio State, UW was ready from the opening tip. And unlike losses to Xavier, Baylor and UCLA, all ranked teams that made winning plays down the stretch, Gard's players found a way to win a close game.

"We need to make better decisions down the stretch," said Gard, whose team scored just four points over the final 2 1/2 minutes. "But it is good for them to go through (this). Again, you can simulate a lot of things in practice and you can talk about it but they have to perform and they have to deliver and they did tonight."