MADISON – It is simply dominant.
A 100-year-old record was broken Wednesday when the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team won its 16th in a row to start the season – the best start since the 1911-12 and 1913-14 teams that went 15-0.
The fourth-ranked Badgers didn’t give 23rd-ranked Illinois a chance in a 95-70 victory at the Kohl Center. But being the first 16-0 team in school history didn’t cross Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan’s mind.
“I’d have gone home, maybe had a beverage and eaten something and gone to bed and it would never have been brought up until you just brought it up,” Ryan said. “But you start thinking about that too much and it can go the other way in a hurry. So I’m proud of the players … Let’s try to keep it going.”
La Crosse native, freshman Bronson Koenig helped get the Badgers off to a big lead assisting Ben Brust on a 3-pointer. A few possessions later he hit a 3 of his own in the midst of a 20-0 run. Wisconsin led by 25 at halftime.
Koenig finished 3-for-4 from the field, scoring seven, while adding three rebounds, two assists and a turnover in 22 minutes – sixth-most on the team.
THe stat of the day: Wisconsin has now won games scoring in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 100s.
Brust scored 18, Sam Dekker, coming off a 2-for-12 night against Iowa, was 6-for-8, scoring 17 points, while Traevon Jackson added 15 for Wisconsin, which is 3-0 in the Big Ten.
Illinois (13-3, 2-1), which has lost six consecutive games to the Badgers, shot just 32 percent from the field. Wisconsin shot 56 percent.
If the Badgers can beat Indiana (10-5, 0-2) on Tuesday, it will match their longest win streak in school history, matching the 2006-07 team.