Wisconsin Passes Test Without History Lesson

Wisconsin Coach Dick Bennett tried his best to downplay the historical significance of the Badgers’ 71-58 victory over No. 12 Indiana Saturday in a Big Ten game at Madison, Wis.

He never mentioned the Badgers’ 31-game losing streak against the Hoosiers before the game, or that Wisconsin’s last victory over Indiana was in 1980--before most of his players were in kindergarten.

“I know that much will be made of getting that monkey off our back,” Bennett said. “But I didn’t feel the pressure of that because I wasn’t here and wasn’t a big part of that, nor were these kids. We didn’t talk about it, quite frankly.”

While Bennett, in his second season at Wisconsin after a long, successful stint at Wisconsin Green Bay, was reluctant to talk about the landmark victory, some of his players weren’t.

“Coach Bennett’s goal is to get this program turned around, and there are a few things we had to do to accomplish that.” said center Sean Daugherty, one of four double-figure scorers for the Badgers with 13 points. “This was one barrier we had to overcome.”

Wisconsin, 8-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, scored the game’s first 17 points and never allowed Indiana (14-2, 1-1) to get closer than eight. The Badgers committed only five turnovers--none in the second half--while the Hoosiers had 26.

“Wisconsin played really hard and tough,” Indiana said Coach Bob Knight, who pulled starters for long stretches. “They came out to beat somebody and we came out to play basketball.”