Wisconsin dominates Maryland from start to finish

WISCONSIN

John Blackwell came off the bench to score 18 points and three other players scored in double figures, leading Wisconsin to an 87-56 blowout of Maryland in the second round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday.

Wisconsin advanced to meet No. 4 seed Northwestern in a quarterfinal game on Friday. 

Steven Crowl scored 17 points, A.J. Storr had 16 points and Chucky Hepburn added 10 points for Wisconsin (20-12), which made 16 of 25 shots (64 percent) from 3-point range and went 31 of 60 (51.7 percent) from the field overall. 

The Badgers also held a 42-25 rebounding advantage and had 25 assists. 

Jahmir Young scored 18 points and DeShawn Harris-Smith added 16 points in defeat for Maryland, which finished the season 16-17 in Kevin Willard’s second year as head coach.

Wisconsin built a 21-point lead at halftime thanks to torrid shooting from 3-point range. The Badgers went 10 of 13 (76.9 percent) from behind the 3-point line en route to a 47-26 lead at intermission. 

The second half proved to be worse for Maryland.

Wisconsin opened the second half with an 18-0 run to take a 65-26 lead with 15:16 remaining. 

Storr scored eight points in the barrage to go along with 3-pointers by Crowl and Hepburn.

Harris-Smith of Maryland finally ended the run on a 3-pointer with 14:52 remaining, but the damage had already been done.

The Badgers eventually pushed their lead to as many as 42 points at 78-36 with 8:08 left after a 3-pointer by Connor Essegian. 

Wisconsin took charge of the game early, going up 18-7 just 6:10 into the game following a 3-pointer by Storr.

The Badgers increased their lead to 16 at 34-15 with 7:34 to go until halftime after a three-point play by Nolan Winter. 

–Field Level Media