Associated Press
Wisconsin forward Keaton Nankivil (52) dunks over Arizona forward Solomon Hill (44) in the first half of the Badgers' 65-61 victory at the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Bo Ryan was stressing to his University of Wisconsin men's basketball team that it has to expect the unexpected during preseason basketball tournaments.
The UW coach was prophetic as the Badgers fought off foul problems that forced Ryan to go deep to his bench and still earned a 65-61 victory over Arizona on Monday night in a first-round game at the Maui Invitational.
Senior point guard Trevon Hughes scored 24 points and junior Keaton Nankivil had two late dunks to lead the Badgers (3-0), who will play Gonzaga in a second-round tournament game today at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Freshman forward Derrick Williams scored 25 points to lead the Wildcats (2-1), who move on to face Colorado (3-1) today.
Nankivil's two dunks gave UW a 61-58 lead and Jason Bohannon followed with two free throws. Arizona's Jamelle Horne kept the Wildcats in it with two 3-pointers to make it 63-61 with 8.6 seconds left. But Nankivil sank a free throw and Hughes tied up Arizona on the rebound and UW kept possession.
Hughes then made one of two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to close out the scoring.
Williams scored eight of Arizona's first nine points of the second half -- including six from the free-throw line -- as the Wildcats closed to 36-32 with 16:36 left.
The Wildcats went to the free-throw line on five of their first seven possessions of the second half in a foulfest that put Nankivil and Jon Leuer and Arizona's Nic Wise on the bench with four fouls apiece.
But Arizona couldn't cut into the lead over the next six minutes and Nankivil and Leuer returned with the Badgers leading 43-39 with 10:46 left.
That didn't help the Badgers. Leuer fouled out and Arizona got two more free throws from Williams and freshman forward Solomon Hill scored off a Wildcat miss to tie the game at 45-45 with 8:27 left.
Williams gave the Wildcats a 47-45 lead with a shot from the paint with 7:20 to go but UW freshman forward Mike Bruesewitz tied it again with a tip-in of a Hughes missed drive with 6:40 to go.
The lead seesawed until Hughes' two free throws with 2:02 to go made it 57-55.
The Badgers got an early break when Wise picked up two fouls in the first 94 seconds of the game and was forced to the bench. Wise returned after Hughes' steal and layup with 16:40 left in the first half.
But the Badgers had problems, too. Leuer and Nankivil picked up two fouls and were forced out of the game. Arizona promptly went on a 7-0 run and trailed 18-12 following Hill's bucket from the paint with 7:58 to go in the half.