Oregon uses strong second half to take down Wisconsin

Oregon made 17 of 24 shots in the second half, scoring 55 points in the final 20 minutes in an 85-71 win over Wisconsin Wednesday night in Big Ten men's basketball from Eugene, Ore.

Nate Bittle scored 20 points with six rebounds and five assists, Takai Simpkins added 17 and Kwame Evans Jr. scored 16 points for the Ducks, who won their third game in the last four.

The Ducks (11-17, 4-13 Big Ten) had 24 points off turnovers, eight blocked shots and eight steals, slowing down one of the country's highest scoring teams.

John Blackwell led the Badgers with 22 points, hitting six of his team's 14 3-pointers. But Wisconsin attempted a program record 45 3-point shots on the night.

Nick Boyd added 11 points for Wisconsin (19-9, 11-6). That was more than nine points below his per-game average.

The Badgers led by as many as nine points in the first half, but the momentum switched to Oregon throughout much of the second.

Second-chance points helped Wisconsin take a five-point lead early in the second half, the Badgers getting offensive rebounds and re-setting to knock down 3-pointers from Blackwell twice and Andrew Rohde.

But Oregon responded with a 9-0 run to take a 51-47 lead, energized by a pair of blocked shots by Evans and one from Dezdrick Lindsay. When guard Wei Lin stole the ball from Rohde and glided in for a layup, the Ducks led 54-49 with 9:06 to play.

The Ducks continued to build on their lead, Takai Simpkins lobbing to Sean Stewart for an easy dunk and Lin knocking down a mid-range jumper for a 58-49 advantage.

Oregon built its lead to double digits in the second half and hardly slowed down. Wisconsin fought back and made it a six-point game, but got no closer.

Lindsay swished a long 3-pointer as the shot clock ran down with 3:12 to play, giving Oregon a 72-59 lead. Then Evans did the same a minute later, effectively sealing victory for the Ducks.

Wisconsin took a 33-30 lead to halftime.