One thing that gets forgotten at the end of the college basketball season are the kitchen sink games. Kitchen Sink games can be defined as a team who is likely not playing in a postseason tournament throwing the kitchen sink at a game in hopes of a crowing victory of the season. Northwestern hoped Wisconsin would be that crowning win. That didn’t happen. Wisconsin held on late with a 69-64 victory earning the season sweep over Northwestern and getting their second straight victory.

Player of the Game: Brad Davison – The Badgers guard continues to have a strong finish to the season. He led all Wisconsin scorers with 16 points on five-of-11 shooting. Davison is starting to become a big moment guy for this Wisconsin team. That’s very important to have in the Big Ten Tournament as well as the NCAA Tournament. With your best player unable to score beyond eight feet, you need that other guy to provide the clutch shooting. Davison hit a huge corner bucket late to push the Badgers lead out to three. He also made two big free throws at the end of the game.

Silver Star: Ethan Happ – After a rough game against Illinois, Happ bounced back with a patented double-double. He scored 14 points and 10 rebounds with three assists and two blocks. Happ looked revived out there on Saturday night. He played nearly the whole game including the final stretch where a Hack-a-Happ could have been applied. It did not happen for him. The Badgers star also broke his free throw streak of eleven straight misses by going 50 percent from the stripe which is a positive for Happ.

Thing I liked: Balanced Badgers – For the first time in what seems like forever, Wisconsin had a true balanced scoring attack. Usually, it’s Happ and take your pick on any secondary player. This time, four players scored in double digits which you have to love if you’re Greg Gard. This team is showing less of a reliance on Happ which is very important for the future of this team.

Thing I didn’t like: Nate Reuvers struggled against the bigger man – I get the idea of having Reuvers on Dereck Pardon on Saturday night. Reuvers showed himself as a good defender, and this keeps Happ out of foul trouble. That said, Pardon dominated the paint especially in the first half. He finished with 21 points as Wisconsin did not defend him well. This feels like one of those games where Reuvers takes his lumps and gets better.

Next up: Wisconsin plays their second straight road game and heads to Indiana. Somehow, the Hoosiers are still on the bubble which I find ridiculous considering they’ve barely won any games in Big Ten play. Regardless of my opinion, they still have an outside shoot at a tournament berth. A win against Wisconsin would help things. They’ve been bad offensively of late which is a bad recipe when playing the Badgers this season.

Charlie.