Butler Survives Late Wisconsin Rally To Advance With 61-54 Win

All of a sudden, the Wisconsin offense has come alive, triggered by a strong effort on the defensive end of the floor. Wisconsin found itself on a 6-0 run, and 11-2 overall, to nearly cut the deficit to single-digits. But, again, Butler answered, with Matt Howard hitting two free throws to stop the bleeding.

Butler did run into some trouble on the defense end when Shelvin Mack picked up his fourth foul with just over five minutes to play. Mack has been big for the Bulldogs on the offensive end, scoring 10 points for Butler before sitting with foul trouble.

Wisconsin could do nothing right on the offensive end for the first 10 minutes of the second half, hitting just 1-16 shots from the floor to open the half. Jordan Taylor finally snapped out of his slump and, perhaps, broke the Badgers out of their funk, taking a back-door lob and laying it in for Wisconsin’s fourth and fifth points of the half. The bucket appeared to give Taylor confidence as he buried a deep three the next time down to cut the Butler lead to 15.

But, as they have all night, the Bulldogs found another answer, this time in the form of Matt Howard’s inside game. Howard connected on a quick lay-in to push the Butler lead back to 17 at 49-32.

The Butler Bulldogs have completely shut the Wisconsin Badgers down early with strong defense. The Badgers missed their first eight shots of the half in a scoreless streak that’s spanned the first four minutes of the half. Meanwhile, Butler was able to get it going on the offensive end, putting together a 5-0 run to start the half to push its lead to 14.

Andrew Smith is still on the bench after going down hard with an apparent leg injury, though trainers were looking at his ankle. Smith was able to put weight on it and trainers were re-taping his ankles in an effort to get him back on the floor, it appeared.

Any hope Wisconsin had of Butler cooling off with the halftime break went right out the window on the first two possession. Shelvin Mack immediately found a crease in the Badgers’ defense, knifing through the lane for an easy lay-in. After forcing a Butler miss on the other end, Andrew Smith got free, rim-checked a dunk, but recovered to finish with the lay-in.

But Smith came down hard going up for a rebound on the other end of the floor, screaming in pain after appearing to land on top of a Wisconsin player’s foot. Smith stayed on the ground in obvious pain, clutching his leg and knee after coming down awkwardly. Smith needed help off the court and was walking gingerly to the bench, though he could put weight on it.

Butler’s back, and the Bulldogs are heading to a second straight Sweet 16 and a date with Wisconsin in the 2011 NCAA Tournament bracket. But Brad Stevens’ magic may not be enough against the Badgers, an extremely talented offensive team with more options than the Bulldogs have seen against Pittsburgh and Old Dominion. Wisconsin vs. Butler will tip at 9:57 p.m. Thursday from New Orleans on TBS, according to the 2011 NCAA Tournament schedule, and Gus Johnson and Len Elmore will be the announcers.

The Badgers have already taken a roundhouse in this NCAA Tournament: Jacob Pullen’s bravura 38-point performance for Kansas State against Wisconsin was absurd and yet not enough, which should tell you something about Bo Ryan’s team’s ability to take a punch. But Wisconsin was underseeded at the No. 4 line, and is the favorite here: Keaton Nankivil, Jon Leuer, and Mike Bruesewitz will all be problems for Matt Howard, stretching the region he needs to cover, and if one or both heats up, the Badgers could win in a walk.