MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men’s basketball team stopped their home losing skid Tuesday by defeating Texas A&M – Corpus Christi. The Badgers outscored the Islanders 64-49. The bigger story was announced after the teams left the floor of the Kohl Center.
Bo Ryan is retiring, effective immediately.
Ryan is the most successful coach in UW Madison’s history, with 11 of their best seasons in his 14-plus years there. Before that, he spent 15 years at UW Platteville, guiding the Division III school to four national championships and a 353-76 record on his watch. He also spent two successful seasons at UW Milwaukee. Ryan says retirement has been a discussion item for him, his wife Kelly, and Athletic Director Barry Alvarez for several months. The winningest coach in Badger history picked up 7 Big Ten titles, and took Wisconsin to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, with two final four appearances including last year’s championship game.
As for Bo’s last basketball game, his Badgers started out with cold shooting but had solid defense most of the night.
Bronson Koenig and Ethan Happ each had 15 points for the Badgers, and Happ was feeling under the weather. Vito Brown had 12 points and 16 rebounds, picking up the double-double. Nigel Hayes and Zak Showalter each scored 8 for Wisconsin.
Rashawn Thomas and Hameed Ali led the Islanders with 12 points each. Thomas was also A&M’s leading rebounder with six. He was held below his average, though, getting into some foul trouble.
Wisconsin went to the locker room with a 27-19 halftime lead, but came out with a little more consistency in shooting. The Badgers shot 45.5 percent from field-goal range, compared to the Islanders’ 32.8 percent shooting percentage. Wisconsin had trouble finding the basket early in the game, but did a better job of scoring in the second half. The Badger victory Tuesday is also significant for head coach Bo Ryan, as he picked up his school record 364th victory as the UW Madison head coach, but his 747th win of his 32 year coaching career. That surpasses Hall of Fame coach Phog Allen, who racked up a 746-264 career record over his career, with the last 37 years of his time coaching the Kansas Jayhawks from 1919 to 1956.
Next up for the Badgers is the UW Green Bay Phoenix. That game is at the Kohl Center December 23rd. Associate Head Coach Greg Gard will be the Badgers Interim Head Coach for the rest of the year. Athletic Director Barry Alvarez told reporters, “Ryan oversaw an incredible run of sustained success and helped elevate Wisconsin among the nation’s elite programs. He is truly a Hall of Fame coach and led our program to the most successful era in school history. He will be missed.”
