Jan. 17, 2007
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Michael Flowers scored 15 points to lead No. 2 Wisconsin to its 14th consecutive victory, 69-64 over Purdue on Wednesday night.
The Badgers (18-1, 4-0 Big Ten), who are enjoying the highest ranking in school history, led by 10 points midway through the second half.
Keaton Grant's fast break layup with 39 seconds left brought the Boilermakers (13-6, 2-3) within 67-62. Kammron Taylor made one of two free throws for Wisconsin with 36 seconds left. Purdue missed and rebounded two 3-point attempts, finally settling for a putback by Carl Landry that made it 68-64 with 4.3 seconds left.
Gordon Watt had 18 points for Purdue.
The Badgers' winning streak is tied with New Mexico State for longest in the nation.
Wisconsin missed its first nine shots and was 3-for-17 from 3-point range for the game.
The Badgers did put together a 14-4 run midway through the second half - though there wasn't much actual running involved, as they methodically opened a 10-point lead over nearly 6 minutes.
Wisconsin center Jason Chappell hit a 3-pointer to put the Badgers ahead 40-39 with 13:32 remaining, Wisconsin's first lead of the second half.
Flowers threw up a haphazard shot as he was stumbling out of bounds, and it fell in to put the Badgers ahead 51-43. Alando Tucker later scored on an inside move to push the Badgers' lead to 10 with 7:47 remaining.
Purdue's first attempt at a rally came when a 3-pointer by Tarrance Crump cut the Wisconsin lead to six with 4:58 remaining. But Taylor hit two free throws, Landry missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Taylor drove for a layup to put the Badgers ahead by 10 points.
Taylor was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week after his 25-point performance in Wisconsin's victory over Ohio State last Tuesday.
Landry scored 16 points for Purdue in his first-ever matchup with younger brother Marcus, a sophomore at Wisconsin. Both brothers played high school basketball in the Milwaukee area.
Carl Landry, a senior, came into Wednesday night's game as the Big Ten's No. 3 scorer and is considered one of Tucker's main rivals for conference player of the year consideration.
Marcus Landry was ruled academically ineligible in the second half of last season but is steadily working his way into playing more minutes off the bench this year. Landry played more than 20 minutes in each of the Badgers' past two games coming into Wednesday night.
The younger Landry has been particularly effective on defense, blocking seven shots in the Badgers' previous two games - and he got a big block on his big brother early in the second half, using his right hand to slap the ball away from the rim as Carl Landry drove on the left baseline with 14:34 remaining.
Marcus Landry scored four points and had five rebounds.
Wisconsin's winning streak is the longest in school history since the 1940-41 season, when the Badgers won 15 straight. The Badgers' only loss this season was to Missouri State on Nov. 24.
Purdue hasn't won a road game since a 65-47 victory at Iowa on Feb. 21, 2004. The streak began with a loss at Wisconsin eight days later.