Wisconsin was shooting hot last weekend, beating Belmont and Kansas State in the process, nut against Butler in New Orleans, the Badgers looked much more like the team that lost to Penn State in Indianapolis.
Wisconsin was shut down in the first half, scoring just 24 points and turning the ball over eight times, and for the first several minutes of the second half couldn't find the bottom of the net. The Badgers did turn it on eventually against the Bulldogs, and put up 30 points down the stretch, but it ended up being too little and too late, they had given Butler too much of a lead to hope to come back.
For Butler, it is the second consecutive year advancing to the the Elite Eight, and their tournament experience seemed to matter quite a bit. Senior forward Matt Howard had 20 points for the Bulldogs, with 9 coming off of his ice water free throw shooting. Brad Stevens' players made 7 free throws down the stretch to hold back the late Wisconsin charge, there would be no heart attack plays tonight.
Butler is now just one game away from another trip to the Final Four, and though no one can call them a Cinderella this year, three weeks ago, the Bulldogs weren't even necessarily in the field.