Field Level Media
Dec 28, 2019
D'Mitrik Trice scored 21 points, and the Wisconsin Badgers used smothering defense to overwhelm the Tennessee Volunteers 68-48 on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn.
Wisconsin (7-5) notched its first win of the season away from home. The Badgers took advantage of the season-ending injury suffered earlier in December by Tennessee senior point guard Lamonte Turner, whose absence was acutely felt by the Vols.
Tennessee (8-4) shot 34.8 percent from the field and didn't have a player reach double-digit points, with John Fulkerson and Jalen Johnson each recording nine.
Trice received help from teammate Brendan Pritzl, who scored 17 of Wisconsin's 21 bench points. Pritzl and Trice were each 4 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Wisconsin had more than enough offense on a day when the Badgers dominated from the opening tip. Wisconsin grabbed a 21-9 lead after about 11 minutes and was consistently able to play this game on its own terms.
Wisconsin owned a 21-14 lead with 7:57 left in the first half. The Badgers allowed just five points in the next 6:26 to take a 32-19 edge. Wisconsin was up 38-24 at the intermission, but the Badgers hadn't yet delivered their best defensive sequence of the game.
Wisconsin limited Tennessee to just four points for more than 10 minutes of the second half as the Badgers increased their 14-point halftime margin to 54-28. The game was never meaningfully competitive the rest of the way.
The Volunteers didn't hit their second field goal of the second half until the 8:05 mark.
Tennessee made only 6 of 18 3-point attempts and went just 10 of 19 from the free throw line. The Volunteers committed 17 turnovers.
--Field Level Media