MADISON, Wis. _ Wisconsin coach Greg Gard delivered a powerful and effective halftime speech.
Gard appeared visibly upset in the first half as his players lost contact with Penn State shooters, allowing the Nittany Lions to bury shot after shot from beyond the 3-point arc and stay within three points.
The 15th-ranked Badgers dominated the second half from the opening possession, however.
They got the ball inside immediately to Ethan Happ, harassed Penn State's shooters into miss after miss and pulled away for a comfortable 82-55 victory Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
UW (17-3, 6-1 Big Ten) won for the 13th time in its last 14 games and remained in a tie for first place with Maryland (18-2, 6-1).
The Terrapins defeated visiting Rutgers, 67-55, earlier Tuesday.
Penn State's road woes against UW continued.
The Nittany Lions (11-10, 3-5) are 0-15 at the Kohl Center and 0-18 overall in Madison.
Penn State had no one who could slow UW senior guard Bronson Koenig, who scored on 3-pointers and drives.
Koenig hit 4 of 9 3-pointers and 8 of 13 shots overall en route to 20 points in 29 minutes. He added three assists and two rebounds.
Vitto Brown, limited to two points in 17 minutes at Minnesota because of a right-knee injury, was much more active Tuesday. Brown hit 2 of 4 3-pointers and 6 of 8 shots overall, contributing 16 points and six rebounds.
Happ hit just 2 of 6 shots in the first half en route to seven points in 16 minutes. He had seven points in the first 3 minutes, 35 seconds of the second half and finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Nigel Hayes added nine points, eight rebounds and four assists. Zak Showalter chipped in with seven points and three rebounds and Khalil Iverson scored five points during a 7-0 second-half run during which the Badgers pushed a 14-point lead to 21.
Penn State entered the night last in the Big Ten in shooting (40.9 percent) and 11th in 3-point shooting (34.4 percent) but hit 6 of 10 3-pointers (60 percent) and 12 of 23 shots overall (52.2 percent) in the opening half.
Facing a more active defense, the Nittany Lions cooled after halftime and finished 9 of 18 (50 percent) and 19 of 49 (38.8 percent), respectively.
Payton Banks and Tony Carr scored 12 points apiece for Penn State. Shep Garner added nine, all in the first half.
Led by Garner's 3-for-4 performance from 3-point range, Penn State hit 6 of 10 attempts from beyond the arc to stay within 36-33.
The Nittany Lions had little trouble getting open looks and shot 52.2 percent overall (12 of 23).
UW opened the second half like a title-contending team.
The Badgers pounded the ball inside to Happ for two baskets in the first 1:01 to set the tone on offense and their defense was more aware and tenacious.
Happ, who had six points in 16 minutes in the first half, scored seven points in the first 3:35 of the second half to key a 13-2 run as UW built a 49-35 lead.
So hot in the opening half, the Nittany Lions were 1-5 during that run.
The lead was 14 when Iverson sparked a 6-0 run to push the lead to 62-41 with 9:20 left.
Iverson started the run by taking an inbounds lob from Koenig and slamming the ball home for a 57-41 lead. After a steal by Iverson, D'Mitrik Trice scored in transition off a feed from Hayes.
Trice then found Iverson open on the left wing and the sophomore buried the 3-pointer, just his second in eight attempts this season.
Penn State never threatened the rest of the way and remained winless in Madison.
