A hard week of practice was apparently the ticket for the University of Wisconsin to return to the win column.

While not discouraged after three consecutive losses, the Badgers had a spirited week of practices and held themselves and others accountable for not doing the necessary things to win tight ball games against quality competition.

Whatever happened in the days following its loss at Illinois appeared to unlock what was missing since the calendar turned to December. No.20 Wisconsin never trailed in what was essentially a road game, playing complementary and fundamental basketball to register an 83-74 victory over Butler Saturday afternoon.

If Wisconsin plays like this the next few times it steps foot on the Gainbridge Fieldhouse floor, the Badgers will hoist a Big Ten Tournament championship trophy.

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s third neutral site victory of the season.

The thought of having two 7-footers in the starting lineup creates a matchup nightmare for Wisconsin’s opponents. It took 11 games, but it finally played out that way with Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter having their way with Butler’s frontcourt.

Wisconsin’s starting frontcourt combined for a season-high 38 points, as Winter’s career-high 20 points and Crowl’s slump-busting 18 points were the big tone-setters. The Badgers scored 40 points in the paint, 24 coming from the hands of Crowl and Winter.

Much of the talk involving Wisconsin the past five days involved the ascension of Winter and the descending play of Crowl. There’s no question that Winter is the future of Wisconsin’s frontcourt, a 7-foot big man who can score off pick-and-rolls, dribble drives to the rim, or spot up three-point shots. While his defense is still being polished, Winter’s offensive skillset and confidence is growing in his first season in the starting lineup.

“(The coaches are) giving me all the confidence in the world to keep shooting, keep attacking, keep doing what I do, just knowing my game,” Winter said. “(I’m) playing more confident just knowing I’m able to do some stuff that I maybe haven’t been doing recently.”

The opposite could have been said of Crowl, a fifth-year forward who had reached double figures in just one of UW’s first 10 games and lacked aggressiveness in both shot selection and rebounding.

Wisconsin’s first nine points came from post touches and started with Crowl. He backed down center Andre Screen and finished with a short floater after creating separation with a spin move. Winter was next after getting a perimeter feed from guard John Tonje, utilizing a pump fake and spin move to finish off the glass against guard Patrick McCaffery.

Tonje drew a three-point play against Telfort on the fourth possession and guard John Blackwell drew a double team in transition on the next trip down the court, allowing him to find an open Winter underneath for the easy lay-in.

Throw in Kamari McGee’s three-pointer when guard Kolby King was late on a screen, a result of Butler sagging in the low post, and the Badgers kicked off the game with a 12-2 run.

“You can’t flip a switch when the game starts,” Crowl said. “These last few practices we’ve really been getting into it and making a concerted effort to be aggressive as a team. I think the big thing is just being coachable, coming in every day, and we’re working our asses off. It paid off tonight.”

A theme emerged from Wisconsin’s first three losses of the season, and it centered around carelessness. The Badgers were turning the ball over at a higher-than-usual rate (12.7 per game leading to 13.7 opponent points), giving up too many second-chance rebounds (47 second-chance points on 39 offensive rebounds), and being susceptible to dribble penetration.

Guard Max Klesmit claimed they were all fixable mistakes, but something the team had to go out and show. UW managed to check off all three areas against Butler.

Wisconsin was whistled for a season-low three turnovers, an offensive foul on Xavier Amos in the first half, and bad passes by Klesmit and Tonje. Butler committed only six turnovers, further emphasizing how important limiting miscues were.

In addition to the three turnovers, UW had 19 assists. It was the first time the Badgers achieved that ratio since posting 22 assists with three turnovers in a 78-46 win at Northwestern on January 23, 2011.

“That tells you just the unselfishness and how the ball moved,” head coach Greg Gard said.

Offensive rebounds were a backbreaker against Illinois (15 that led to 16 second-chance points) but not against Butler. One of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, ranking 17th amongst all Division I schools with a 40.1 percent 3-point rate, Butler rebounded just five of its 29 misses that prevented it from getting its offense flowing.

While Pierre Brooks (23) and Patrick McCaffery (16) generated their offense, the Badgers were terrific defensively on leading-scorer Jahmyl Telfort, who was averaging 17.0 points per game, shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 45.7 percent from three, and registering 3.1 assists.

UW held him without a point or an assist in the first half and made him a non-factor at 3-for-10 from the floor, 1-for-5 from three, and only two assists on an eight-point night.

“All the guys that guarded Telfort, that’s a hard matchup because of his size and his ability to put the ball on the floor and is powerful enough around the paint,” Gard said. “They obviously go to him a lot. Nolan did a really good job. His size at seven feet is something I always tell him can be to his advantage. He can play with his length and guard smaller, maybe perceived faster guys. That’s a great experience for him.

“I thought Carter Gilmore was terrific on him, as well. I know we had Tonje on him at times, but it was primarily Winter and Amos had him for a little bit. An old player of his caliber (to go) 3-for-10, that’s a really good night. There weren’t many easy looks for him. We were able to exchange a lot of things … and make sure he couldn’t get down lane lines for the most part.”

Wisconsin’s offense lagged after Crowl’s layup with 12:48 remaining, going 5-for-17 over an 11-minute, 35-second stretch. Unlike at Illinois, when UW got into the bonus early in the half but never fully took advantage, the Badgers never lost their lead due to going 14-for-14 from the line over a 12-possession stretch late in the half.

UW closed the half with eight points on its last three possessions, again because of Crowl’s aggressiveness. Starting with a catch-and-shoot three to make the score 42-33, Crowl finished off the glass in a simple give-and-go with McGee on a possession that began with UW’s point guard swiping Pierre Brooks.

Klesmit hit only one shot Saturday but his three-pointer beat the game clock to cap a 10-0 run and put the Badgers up 14 going into the locker room. Butler never cut the lead down past five points.

1.343 – Wisconsin’s points per possession in the first half, as the Badgers shot 45.2 percent in the first half. UW shot 44.4 percent in the second half and finished the game at 1.258 points per possession.

5 – The Badgers had 5 players score in double figures – Winter, Crowl, Klesmit (11), Tonje (11), and Blackwell (10). It’s the second time this season the Badgers have achieved that feat.

5 – In addition to his 10 points, Blackwell had a career-high five assists with zero turnovers. Blackwell has scored in double figures in 10 of 12 games this season.

9.6 – Wisconsin lowered its turnover average to 9.6 turnovers per game. Entering the day, that figure would be tied for the best mark in the Big Ten.

90 – Wisconsin went 25-for-27 from the foul line, the third time this season the Badgers shot at least 90 percent from the line. The last time the Badgers made 25 free throws with 92 percent or better shooting came in a 25-for-26 (96.2 percent) effort in an 82-56 win vs. Michigan State on February 6, 2011.

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