Wake Forest University
Wisconsin
Wake Forest Knocks Off No. 23 Wisconsin, 90-80
12/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 4, 2002
Final Stats?|? Notes
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Josh Howard has a perfect record in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Thanks to the Wake Forest senior, so does the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Howard scored a career-high 31 points as the Demon Deacons beat No. 23 Wisconsin 90-80 Wednesday night, giving the ACC its fourth victory in as many years in its duel with the Big Ten.
Howard, who was 12-of-19 from the field, also had nine rebounds to help Wake Forest (3-0) defeat Wisconsin (4-1) for the second time in the challenge. The Demon Deacons beat Michigan in 2000 and Minnesota last season.
"I'm going out 4-0 in this challenge," Howard said. "I think this was big motivation for me."
Justin Gray added 20 points and Taron Downey had 15 for Wake Forest, which made all 15 of its free throws in the second half, including several down the stretch to hold off Wisconsin.
Devin Harris and Freddie Owens each scored 19 points to lead Wisconsin, which saw its 14-game home winning streak end.
The ACC won five of the nine games between the conferences for the fourth straight year. Wake Forest was the only road team to win this season.
"I told the players this was a tough place to play," said Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, who lost to the Badgers in Madison while coaching at Xavier. "But tough places to play are great places to win."
 Wake Forest's Vytas Danelius pulls in one of his team-high-tying nine rebounds.  | |
Howard, Gray and Downey combined to go 13-for-13 from the line for Wake Forest, which was 17-of-19 as a team.
Wisconsin, on the other hand, struggled from the line. The Badgers, who entered the game shooting 81 percent from the line, were just 15-of-24.
But Wisconsin was equally disappointed with its struggles with rebounding and on defense.
Wake Forest outrebounded Wisconsin 37-27 and scored 40 points in the paint despite the fact its two starting post players, center Eric Williams and forward Vytas Danelius, were in foul trouble most of the game.
"We'd come down and have a good move and a great score, and then we'd come down and give up a layup or an offensive rebound and it would break our backs all over again," said Harris, who led the Badgers with nine rebounds. "And it happened all night."
Wake Forest led by as many as 13 points early in the second half, but Wisconsin rallied to tie the game at 59 with 9:25 left.
 Wake Forest's Justin Gray defends Wisconsin's Freddie Owens (24). | |
Howard answered with a 3-pointer on an inbounds play to give Wake Forest the lead for good.
"He's cast in a role where he's our only veteran guy," Prosser said of Howard. "And I thought he made some key plays when Wisconsin closed the gap. He played like a big-time player."
Harris hit a 3-pointer to make it 82-78 with 57 seconds left, but Downey and Howard each made two free throws to seal the victory.
Howard also played solid defense on Wisconsin's leading scorer, Kirk Penney, who finished with 16 points but was 5-of-11 from the field and 4-of-8 from the line.
The loss dropped Wisconsin to 1-3 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
"We just take it as a loss," Owens said. "We didn't take care of business tonight. We lost our challenge."
