MADISON, Wis. (AP) Brad Davison scored a game-high 24 points, Aleem Ford added a career-high 16 points, and Wisconsin beat McNeese 83-63 on Wednesday night.
Brevin Pritzl scored 13 points in his first start in two seasons for the Badgers (2-1), who won their second straight game.
Forward Sha’Markus Kennedy scored a team-high 20 points and A.J. Lawson added 10 for the Cowboys.
Kobe King, a sophomore wing who scored a career-high 18 points in the Badgers’ victory on Nov. 8 over Eastern Illinois, didn’t play Wednesday after suffering a left-leg injury in practice on Monday.
Kennedy scored seven points to pace McNeese to a 9-2 lead to start the game.
The Badgers missed seven of their first eight shot attempts but went on an 8-0 run – including back-to-back 3-pointers – to tie the score at 10.
Davison hit 3-of-4 3-pointers in the first half to lift the Badgers out of their shooting slump. Davison’s jumper with two seconds to go before halftime extended Wisconsin’s lead to 37-34.
The Cowboys (1-2) did a good job containing Wisconsin big man Nate Reuvers in the first half. Reuvers, a 6-foot-11 junior who was often double teamed, scored 10 points in the win.
Reuvers sat the last 6:50 of the first half with two fouls and picked up his third less than two minutes into the second.
D’Mitrik Trice buried a pair of 3-pointers, and Pritzl added another to increase the Badgers’ lead at the start of the second.
Wisconsin strung together a 13-3 run that included five-straight points from Ford, capped by a layup with 10:36 left to give Wisconsin a 69-52 lead.
Walt McGrory, a reserve guard, scored a career-high nine9 points for Wisconsin.
LONG-RANGE GOALS
Wisconsin shot 10-of-28 from 3-point range in the victory, including seven 3-pointers in the second half. Five different players drilled baskets from beyond the arc.
McNeese shot 8-of-20 from 3-point range, as five players drained 3-pointers.
BIG PICTURE
McNeese: Kennedy is a force inside for the Cowboys. He made all nine of shot attempts and was 8 of 10 from the free-throw line.
Wisconsin: Not only did Pritzl play well in his first start in two seasons, the Badgers got critical contributions from reserves McGrory and Tyler Wahl. Those efforts will be needed when Reuvers gets in foul trouble, like he did against McNeese.
UP NEXT
McNeese: Plays at New Mexico on Saturday.
Wisconsin: Host intrastate rival Marquette on Nov. 17.
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