MADISON – On the road or at the Kohl Center, Greg Gard’s team just keeps winning.
And Wisconsin’s 16th victory of the season should be viewed as one of its more impressive of the season.
UW faced a Michigan State team that, although unranked and just .500 in Big Ten play, had won its last three games and eight of its last 11.
Led by AJ Storr, the Badgers built a nine-point halftime lead, built their lead to 19 in the second half and never trailed en route to an 81-66 victory Friday night at the Kohl Center.
The Badgers (16-4, 8-1 Big Ten) recorded a regular-season sweep of Michigan State for the first time since the 2003-2004 season and expanded their lead over second-place Purdue (18-2, 7-2) to a full game.
Purdue plays Sunday at Rutgers.
The Badgers also continue to be far ahead of their pace last season, when they finished 9-11 in the Big Ten. They didn’t record their eighth league victory last season until Feb. 22 with a 64-52 decision over Iowa. That left UW 8-9 in the league.
The Spartans (12-8, 4-5) saw their winning streak end at three games and their Big Ten road record fall to 1-4.
The Spartans came in No. 15 nationally in field-goal defense (39.4%) and No. 35 in scoring defense (65.2 ppg).
UW shot 41.7% from three-point range (5 of 12) and 55.6% overall (15 of 27) in the opening half to build a 43-34 halftime lead.
The Badgers cooled off after building the lead to 19 points but finished at 36.0% from three-point range (9 of 25) and 50.9% overall (29 of 57).
AJ Storr and Steven Crowl combined for 40 points and 11 rebounds in UW’s victory over Michigan State last month and that duo killed the Spartans again on Friday.
Storr scored 12 points in the opening half and finished with 28 points. He hit 3 of 8 three-pointers, 9 of 17 shots overall and 7 of 8 free throws.
Crowl hit 6 of 9 shots and finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
No other UW player scored in double figures but six other players scored at least five points.
Tyler Wahl had six points and six rebounds. Max Klesmit, averaging 17.8 points and shooting 17 for 25 from three-point range (68.0%) in the previous five games, added six points, four rebounds and two assists.
UW’s bench contributed 15 point in the victory in East Lansing.
With Connor Essegian scoring eight points and Nolan Winter adding six, the bench had 18 points in the opening half.
The reserves finished with 22, led by Essegian’s eight.
A.J. Hoggard scored 19 points to lead four Michigan State players in double figures.
Malik Hall, who was battling illness in the teams’ first meeting and finished with two points in 23 minutes, scored nine points in the opening half Friday to help prevent UW from pulling away. He finished with 13.
Jaden Akins added 10 points. Guard Tyson Walker, Michigan’s State’s leading scoreer at 19.7 points per game, hit just 2 of 7 shots in the opening half. Walker, who scored 22 points in the teams’ first meeting, finished 4 of 14 with 11 points.
Neither team could score consistently early and UW’s lead was just 4-3 after Hoggard made 1 of 2 free throws with 16:18 left in the half
Led by Storr, UW picked up the pace and eventually took a 43-34 halftime lead.
Storr scored nine points and UW hit 3 of 5 three-pointers and 7 of 10 shots overall in building a 20-11 lead with 12:00 left in the half.
UW’s biggest lead of the half was 12 at 42-30 after Storr hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:45 left.
The Badgers hit 10 of 23 three-pointers in the first meeting and hit 5 of 12 attempts in the first half Friday.
Essegian and Nolan Winter hit two apiece as UW’s bench contributed 18 points.
The Badgers kept getting open looks and kept hitting them early in the second half.
Then with UW holding a 55-44 lead Chucky Hepburn and Klesmit made two huge plays.
First Hepburn came up with a steal and fed John Blackwell for a lay-in and a 57-44 lead. After Walker scored to cut UW’s lead to 11, Klesmit converted a three-point play with an improbable left-handed drive to help push the lead to 60-46.
With the lead at 62-49, Crowl scored in a tip-in, Carter Gilmore tipped in his miss and Crowl hit two free throws for a 68-49 lead with 9:35 left.
The Badgers were cruising but went scoreless for more than five minutes after Storr scored insider for a 71-53 lead and the Spartans pulled within 71-59.
Crowl ended the drought with a three-pointer for a 74-59 lead to settle the home team and home crowd.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers earn one of their most impressive victories of the season
