Big Ten Basketball: Purdue controls Wisconsin in battle of conference favorites

Jan 8, 2017; West Lafayette, IN, USA; Purdue Boilermakers forward Caleb Swanigan (50) and guard Dakota Mathias (31) go for a rebound withWisconsin Badgers forward Charles Thomas IV (15) in the first half at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Sandra Dukes-USA TODAY Sports /

Wisconsin and Purdue are two of the frontrunners to win the Big Ten basketball conference.

From start to finish, it was the Purdue Boilermakers who came out on top over Wisconsin thanks to a great defensive effort from Purdue.

Yet again, and I know this is starting to sound like a broken record for those who read about Purdue, Caleb Swanigan had another double-double. This time he went out to record 18 points and 13 rebounds. The other big man for Purdue, Isaac Haas, was the other Boilermaker in double figures, with 13 points off the bench.

Following the trend of big men as leading scorers, Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ finished with 17 to lead the Badgers. Nigel Hayes was the other UW player to reach double figures with 10 points, but he did so on just 4-for-12 shooting.

The bad stretch of games from Hayes continues. Combining the last two games, both on the road against Indiana and now Purdue, Hayes is just 8-of-23 shooting, which just won’t get it done every night. The Badgers have lots of players that can step up, but if Hayes is going to be one of their stars, he needs to show up every night.

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The one major advantage that Wisconsin had was their ability to force turnovers. Purdue gave away the ball 18 times in comparison to just the nine turnovers that Wisconsin committed.

Then again, Purdue had a lot of things go their way. The Boilermakers out-rebounded Wisconsin 35-22 and also dominated in field goal percentage. Purdue shot the ball at a clip of 52.2 percent and 46.7 percent from three. Wisconsin, on the other hand, held numbers of 39.0 percent and 14.3 percent.

These numbers are never what coach Greg Gard wants to see. Wisconsin will need to shoot the ball better the next time they do battle with Purdue.

After these two tough road games against IU and Purdue, Wisconsin returns home for their next two games. First, they go to work against Ohio State, followed by a date with Michigan. Winning both of those games would really help in terms of seeding come March.

With this win, Purdue moved to 3-1 in conference play (their one loss came to Minnesota), but they have to travel to Iowa for their next game. The Hawkeyes are not fantastic this season, but Peter Jok is one of the best scorers in the country and it is always difficult to play on the road.

Next: Five reasons why the Bears will win it all

In what was a battle that could greatly influence the eventual Big Ten champion, the Purdue Boilermakers absolutely dominated Wisconsin from the jump. And that’s excellent news for Matt Painter.

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