by MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Bronson Koenig (Ho-Chunk Nation) and Ethan Happ scored 17 points apiece to help Wisconsin beat North Dakota 78-64 Tuesday night.
Happ also grabbed seven rebounds, five of them on the offensive end.
Vitto Brown scored 12 points, Nigel Hayes had 11 and Zak Showalter 10 for Wisconsin (2-1).
Wisconsin jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never trailed, taking a 35-22 lead into halftime.
The Badgers used a 10-2 run to push their lead to 57-36 with 9:05 left and led by as many as 25.
Geno Crandall came off the bench to lead North Dakota(1-1) with 19 points, while Drick Bernstine added 15.
North Dakota shot 48 percent while Wisconsin hit 44 percent, but Wisconsin attempted 16 more field goals (66). Wisconsin held a 16-5 edge in offensive rebounding and committed just six turnovers compared to 17 for North Dakota.
The Badgers weren’t sharp to start the game, shooting 37 percent. But that was offset by the 10 offensive rebounds they turned into nine second-chance points and the 10 points they scored off North Dakota turnovers.
The final sequence of the first half included Happ rebounding back-to-back missed 3-point attempts from Koenig. The last one he put back to give Wisconsin its 13-point lead just before the buzzer.
