March 5, 2005
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Sports Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin spoiled the last regular-season stop on Gene Keady's frustrating farewell season with a 64-52 victory over Purdue on Saturday, ensuring the first 20-loss season for the Boilermakers in the program's 107-year history.
Mike Wilkinson and Alando Tucker each scored 14 points - Tucker's all came in the first half - and Kammron Taylor added 11 for the 23rd-ranked Badgers (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten).
David Teague's 17 points led the Boilermakers (7-20, 3-13 Big Ten). They will play at least one more game for Keady, who's retiring after 25 seasons at Purdue, at the Big Ten tournament in Chicago.
The Badgers recorded their third straight 20-win season, a first in their own 107-year history, and secured a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.
Before the game, Badgers coach Bo Ryan presented Keady with engraved golf clubs and a vacation package to Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis., site of last year's PGA championship.
Then, the Badgers gave Keady's team a rude welcome, jumping out to a 24-point first-half lead.
The short-handed Boilermakers were no match for the Badgers without Carl Landry, their leading scorer and rebounder who tore his right anterior cruciate ligament last week in Keady's last game at Mackey Arena.
The Boilermakers had trouble getting off shots in time and had more shot clock violations and airballs than baskets in the opening 12 minutes, when they fell behind 29-8. It took Purdue 13 minutes to reach double figures in scoring - by that time Tucker, who didn't even start, had 14 by himself.
The Badgers' 40-19 halftime lead was enough of a cushion to withstand a rally by the Boilermakers in the second half, when they outscored the Badgers 21-7. The run was sparked by David Teague's trio of 3-pointers, the last one of which pulled Purdue to 56-47 with 3{ minutes remaining.
Taylor sank two foul shots and a 3-pointer to restore Wisconsin's double-digit lead.
The Kohl Center crowd, which gave Keady a rousing ovation before tipoff, booed the entrance in the opening minutes of Boilermakers reserve forward Charles Davis, a tight end on the football team whose cut block injured Badgers star Erasmus James last fall.
The Badgers, who ended a 29-game losing streak at Mackey Arena in January, beat Purdue for the seventh straight time at the Kohl, where they improved to 58-3 under Ryan.