MADISON, Wis. — Sophomore Bronson Koenig's continued development as the starting point guard has kept No. 5 Wisconsin rolling on its methodical march toward the Big Ten regular season title.
Koenig, whose 10 starts at point guard have coincided with the Badgers' 10-game winning streak, scored a career-high 17 points and player of the year candidate Frank Kaminsky scored 21 in a 63-53 victory over Minnesota on Saturday.
The Badgers (25-2, 13-1 Big Ten) maintained their three-game conference lead in the loss column over Maryland, Purdue and Michigan State. Wisconsin is at Maryland on Tuesday and also has a game remaining with Michigan State.
Koenig, a La Crosse (Wis.) Aquinas graduate, was coming off his worst shooting game as a starter, going 2-for-10 overall and 0-for-5 from beyond the arc in a 55-47 win at Penn State.
"To be honest, my shots fell pretty good at Penn State, too. They just weren't falling for me," said Koenig. "So I just tried to come into this game with the same mindset as every game and just shoot when I'm open pretty much. Luckily a couple of them were falling. But, I was pretty disappointed with a couple of times I could have finished at the rim."
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Koenig, who took over at point after Traevon Jackson suffered a broken foot, committed just two turnovers in 39 minutes against a Minnesota team that forced 18 per game. Wisconsin leads the nation in fewest turnovers at 7.4 per game, a pace that would set a new NCAA Division I record.
"I thought we did a good job of handling their pressure on the press, kind of breaking it and making them go back and play man-to-man," said Koenig, who has turned the ball over just nine times in 359 minutes as a starter. "I thought we did a good job of making them play half-court, but I don't think we did as good of a job, me personally as well, with handling the ball."
Nate Mason and Carlos Morris had 11 points apiece for the Gophers (16-12, 5-10), who lost their third straight. Minnesota is 1-14 at the Kohl Center and 6-19 against Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan.
Minnesota attempted just one free throw the entire game — and missed it. The Badgers, who led the nation in fewest fouls at 12.9, were called for seven fouls, compared with 17 for the Gophers. Wisconsin was 11-of-14 from the line.
"We certainly lost to a really good team," said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino. "That's about as good a team in the country. They do a great job of not beating themselves by not fouling and not turning the ball over. I thought our guys gave great energy today. I thought we were very positive. We didn't get down. We just lost to a really good team."
Wisconsin led 35-27 at the half and pushed it to 49-34 on a 3-pointer by Kaminsky with 10:34 remaining.
Sam Dekker , who struggled from the field, gave the Badgers their biggest lead at 54-38 on a dunk with 6:51 left. Dekker, the team's second-leading scorer 13.4 points and shooting 53 percent, was just 1-of-8.
Kaminsky sandwiched a pair baskets around a jumper by Morris to put the Badgers up 59-48 with 2:25 remaining. DeAndre Mathieu's 3-pointer cut it to 61-53 with 27 seconds left.
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Andre Hollins, the Gophers' top scorer at 15 per game, also was 1-of-8 from the field and finished with two points.
