This time Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer made sure their performances were much different than in the last meeting between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Last night in Madison the Badgers beat the Gophers 68-60 in a Big Ten opening game for two nationally ranked teams. That win ended a three game losing streak to Minnesota including last year’s game in Minneapolis when the Gophers won 68-52 and Minnesota natives Taylor and Leuer were a combined 3 of 20 on field goals and produced nine total points.
Taylor scored 22 last night and Leuer had 16. A third Minnesotan, sophomore center Jared Berggren, had eight points and the trio accounted for 46 of the Badgers’ 68 points.
Taylor, a junior point guard from Bloomington, was too much for Gophers defenders Al Nolen and Devoe Joseph most of the game. With almost flawless ball handling, good shooting and superior judgment (one turnover), he scored and directed the Badgers so well he was easily the best player on the court.
When the Gophers trailed only 59-58 in the last two minutes, it was Taylor who made a three point play that put the Badgers ahead 62-58 and on their way to a comfortable final margin. “I thought the key was Jordan Taylor,” Gophers coach Tubby Smith said on his WCCO Radio post-game show. “He just dominated the game, especially at the offensive end. He just controlled the tempo and the flow.”
Leuer, a senior forward from Orono, had missed nine games last season with a wrist injury before he came back to play against the Gophers in Minneapolis. He was rusty but much better last night including showing mobility and ball handling at 6-10.
That athleticism is at least partially attributable to playing guard as a youngster. Leuer’s dad, Mike, said that in high school Jon “grew about 10 inches in 18 months.” Mike Leuer said a sports physiologist predicted the growth spurt. “It worked out very nice for him,” Leuer said.
Jon Leuer was Wisconsin’s leading rebounder with nine, but it was the Gophers who had rebounding bragging rights in this game, holding a 42-24 edge. The rebounds helped the Gophers score inside but Smith said the Gophers “should have dominated even more” in the only scheduled game between the two teams this season.
One of the game’s smallest players, the muscular 6-1 Taylor, was the most dominant last night.