CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The road can be a lonely place for a college basketball team, especially for the University of Wisconsin when a lot of its recent travel has been on buses through the sometimes meandering Indiana and Illinois countryside.
A Big Ten conference race can be won or lost on a strip of pavement between the cornstalks — especially this season, when each team has at least two league losses and nine teams are within two games of first place. With the Badgers — who entered the year 78-6 (.929) against the Big Ten at home under coach Bo Ryan — already having two league home losses this season, winning on the road has become even more important. Fortunately, Wisconsin has morphed into the best traveling team in the conference, and improved to 3-1 away from home with a 67-63 win against No. 22 Illinois Sunday at Assembly Hall.
"It's a crazy league," said Wisconsin center Jared Berggren, who finished with 18 points. "It was definitely disappointing when we lost three in a row (in late December and early January). We got down a little bit, but we tried to stay positive, stay together and keep in mind that it's a long season and everybody is going to take some bumps.
"We were able to fight and scratch our way into things."
With a supreme second half in which it shot 46.7 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line, Wisconsin — thanks to a game-high 19 points from senior guard Jordan Taylor — won its sixth overall game away from the Kohl Center and its first against a ranked team on the road since 2008.
Wisconsin (16-5, 5-3 Big Ten) has not only won at both Purdue and Illinois for the first time since 1918, but it has done so by busing four-plus hours to each game just 10 days apart. The Badgers have logged about 1,440 bus miles this season and are 5-0 when the rubber meets the road.
"It's just a mentality," said sophomore guard Josh Gasser. "We are a bunch of tough kids that aren't going to lose easy. Coming into environments like this, we take it as a challenge, have fun with it and have good leadership. When you have that, it's easy."
Nothing was easy about the way Wisconsin beat Illinois for the fourth time in the Badgers' last six visits to Champaign. In a game that featured 11 lead changes and eight ties, Wisconsin finally distanced itself with that "tough" mentality exemplified on a singular play.
With the Badgers leading, 51-50, with just over 7 minutes remaining, Gasser went to the floor to deflect a loose ball. It was secured by a diving Mike Bruesewitz, who made a pass to Ben Brust from his knees. As Brust went in for the lay-up, Taylor — who scored seven points in the final 32.1 seconds — stepped in front of Illinois junior Brandon Paul, cutting off Paul's alley to Brust and allowing the easy score.
Those are plays Wisconsin didn't make during its losing streak, especially during a humbling 18-point defeat at Michigan, the only road venue this season at which Wisconsin was not competitive for 40 minutes.
"It was coming together and making sure that we do the things we have to do," Brust said.
Wisconsin, a team that was .500 on the road and at neutral sites the past two seasons combined, seems to have a scrappier attitude this year, particularly away from home.
"We got a different group of guys in the locker room than maybe my four years here," Taylor said. "We've got a lot of different personalities. We all play well, we all love playing with each other, but we have a lot of road personalities. Just fun guys that come together."
Never seeming to battle boredom during down time, Gasser and his roommate Bruesewitz hang out in their room, order a movie and talk about things other than basketball.
"We see each other five, six hours a day, and that's when we talk basketball," Gasser said. "We all have good camaraderie that we don't need to talk about basketball to have a good conversation."
Brust, a NASCAR junkie, bought a four-pack NASCAR greatest races/greatest drivers DVD set specifically for road trips. As he explained how he felt like a kid in the candy store, Gasser walked by, hit Brust in the head and told him to "shut up," another sign of a team that doesn't let things get too serious.
"We just come together on the road, no matter what environment it is," Brust said.
Ryan was honest when he said he never brought up the team's three-game losing skid. He likely also won't spend time trumpeting the Badgers' current four-game winning streak now that they're just a half-game out of first place with 10 conference games left.
"It's always about next (with me)," Ryan said.
Consider that a winning philosophy.
For more coverage of the Wisconsin Badgers, check out BadgerNation.com.
