Minneapolis - This was an amazing, incredible afternoon.
The University of Wisconsin stole a 67-62 victory before a stunned crowd of
14,854 at Williams Arena on Saturday after Kirk Penney hoisted the Badgers on his
broad shoulders and carried them with one of the most impressive offensive
displays in school history.
The junior guard scored 27 of his 30 points in the second half, and
Wisconsin rallied from a nine-point deficit during the final 4 minutes 54
seconds to win here for the second time in three years and move into third
place in the Big Ten standings. Penney's performance equaled the third-highest
half of scoring for an individual in school history.
"We had no answers for Penney, zone or man," Minnesota coach Dan
Monson said. "He just kept them in the game, kept them in it and then went
and won it for them."
To simply say Penney scored 27 during a 20-minute half doesn't do him
justice. He needed only the final 15:31 to accomplish the feat and scored all
but three of those points during the final 12:39.
He poured in 14 straight to keep Wisconsin close when it teetered on the
brink of being blown out in the second half. And down the stretch, he scored
the Badgers' final eight points, three coming one a three-point play with 41.4
seconds left that gave the Badgers their first lead - at 62-60 - since 3 1/2
minutes were left in the first half.
The play came after Penney cut to the basket and used his left hand to
finish a nice dish from Mike Wilkinson while drawing a foul on Rick Rickert.
Penney made 8 of 11 shots in the half, including 5 of 7 from three-point
range, and 6 of 7 free throws. He wanted the ball.
"To an extent, of course," he said. "You hit a few, you want
to keep trying to help the team and trying to make shots."
Penney was so good the Badgers got by without balanced scoring, one of the
staples of their success. Freshman Devin Harris added 11 points and senior
Travon Davis scored nine points with eight rebounds and seven assists.
