No. 16 Wisconsin beats Georgetown 73-57 in Maui semifinals

“I don’t think we’re where we need to be or can be anywhere near that yet”, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said.

The Georgetown men’s basketball team (2-3 Big East) fell to No. 16 Wisconsin (4-1 Big 10), 73-57, in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational on Tuesday night.

Pregame: The Ducks are coming off a nice rebound win against Valparaiso and are looking to keep momentum going in a tournament where they could potentially face No. 16 Wisconsin and No. 4 North Carolina.

Wisconsin outscored Georgetown 41 to 28 in the second half.

Wisconsin will face the victor between No. 4 North Carolina and Oklahoma State in Wednesday’s championship game. Georgetown plays Oklahoma State in the consolation game.

“We are not playing very well, but we had to find a way to win the game”, Altman said. Sophomore forward Marcus Derrickson, who would solve some of Georgetown’s defensive rebounding and outside shooting issues, has barely taken the floor this season thanks to a not-fully-disclosed knee issue that kept him on the mainland while his teammates are in Maui.

Bronson Koenig led the Badgers with 20 points. The Vols’ starters were Shembari Phillips, Jordan Bowden, Robert Hubbs III, Grant Williams and Kyle Alexander.

For the final shot of the half, Georgetown guard Rodney Pryor hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer while right in front of the OR bench. The lead grew to 17 on a Brown 3-pointer with four minutes left. “They did not get down on themselves”. “They didn’t try to get out of their box so to speak”.

Georgetown won the game 65-61 after entering the break with a 17-point lead. Dillon Brooks had eight points in his first game of the season, including a long 3-pointer with 3.8 seconds left to get the Ducks within 2. The Badgers hit their first five shots to open the game with a 12-0 run and led by 17 at one point. OR forward Bill Jennings (17 points) and guard Nick Jones (15 points) led the scoring effort for the Ducks. Tyler Roberson had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Brooks was superb on the defensive end, particularly on the press in the second half, and finishing 3 of 8 shooting.

OR will wrap up its week at the Lahaina Civic Center on Wednesday against CT (2-3), which beat Chaminade 93-82 on Tuesday. Georgetown largely accomplished this through a zone that limited its vulnerability to the perimeter penetration that has broken its defense time and again this season.

The Hoyas have dropped consecutive games to Maryland and Arkansas State since opening up the year with a win over USC Upstate. The Badgers beat Georgetown in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the 2014-15 season.

The Maui Invitational hasn’t been all rainbows and hibiscuses for Oregon.

The 33rd Maui Invitational tips off today and will feature another field loaded with basketball powers. Arizona, Auburn, Duke, Gonzaga, Illinois, Iowa State, San Diego State and Xavier have signed on to participate.