OMAHA, Neb. — It would have been tempting for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team to peek ahead months ago, especially when a significant portion of its fan base just wanted to turn the pages of the calendar until it showed March.
But the Badgers have marched methodically through the season, crossing off goals one at a time until just one remains. Now that the NCAA tournament has finally arrived, Wisconsin could get to work on that final mission.
The Badgers began their quest for a national title Friday night by riding its fantastic frontcourt to an 86-72 victory over Coastal Carolina Friday night at the CenturyLink Center.
Senior center Frank Kaminsky from Benet had 27 points and 12 rebounds as the Badgers (32-3), the No. 1 seed in the West region, advanced to play eighth-seeded Oregon (26-9) at 6:45 p.m. Sunday for a berth in the Sweet 16. UW beat the Ducks last season in the round of 32 en route to its first Final Four appearance in 14 years.
Junior forward Sam Dekker scored 20 points and sophomore forward Nigel Hayes had 15 points for UW, which set a school record for victories.
The Badgers, fresh off sweeping the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, were eager to get started on their next target.
“It’s nice to get here,” Dekker said. “Tournament time is the most fun time of the year, so hopefully we’re going to make another run. That’s the plan. But take it a step at a time.”
The Badgers stumbled at times against the Chanticleers (24-10), who played well above their No. 16 seed, but victory was never in doubt because of the work of Kaminsky, Dekker and Hayes.
The trio combined for 62 points, 22 rebounds and nine assists.
“We’re pretty hard to stop when those three are playing at such a high level,” Koenig said.
UW used its massive size advantage — Coastal Carolina’s tallest player is 6-foot-8 — to produce 40 points in the paint and 14 second-chance points.
“We were able to get some stuff in the paint,” Kaminsky said. “Forty points in the paint, that’s pretty good, and hopefully that will be a staple of our team in the tournament. We were able to get it into the paint, kick it out, get some open 3s, so we were just trying to work through the paint and see what we could do.”
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The Chanticleers showed plenty of skill and shot-making ability on offense, but they couldn’t find a way to slow down the Badgers on the other end of the court.
Not only did UW use its size to overwhelm the Chanticleers in the paint, the Badgers’ three big men were lethal from the perimeter. They combined for eight 3-pointers, with Dekker making four and Kaminsky adding three.
Kaminsky also had three traditional three-point plays.
“We find the open guy,” Hayes said after the Badgers shot 54.1 percent, “and when we play like that, we’re able to play as efficiently as we are.”
Kaminsky, Dekker and Hayes combined for 38 points to help the Badgers build a 47-32 halftime lead.
Dekker, Kaminsky and Hayes combined to go 6-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half.
The victory allowed the Badgers to take the first step on the road to Indianapolis, the site of this season’s Final Four and a final destination UW fans have envisioned for the Badgers pretty much since the final buzzer sounded last April.
“All year long, it was, ‘See you in Indy, see you Indy,’ ” Dekker said.
The Badgers still are a long way from reaching that goal, but at least their dance is finally underway.