MADISON – On the road or at the Kohl Center, Greg Gard’s team just keeps winning.

And Wisconsin’s 16^th victory of the season should be viewed as one of its more impressive of the season.

UW faced a Michigan State team that, although unranked and just .500 in Big Ten play, had won its last three games and eight of its last 10.

Led by AJ Storr, the Badgers built a nine-point halftime lead, built their lead to 19 in the second half and never trailed en route to an 81-66 victory Friday night at the Kohl Center.

"Really proud of our guys," Gard said. "That is as close to a complete 40 minutes as we’ve had in a while...That is one of the best (games) we've played all year. We were pretty good from start to finish."

The 11th-ranked Badgers (16-4, 8-1 Big Ten) recorded a regular-season sweep of Michigan State for the first time since the 2003-2004 season and expanded their lead over second-place Purdue (18-2, 7-2) to a full game.

The Boilermakers play Sunday at Rutgers.

The Badgers also continue to be far ahead of their pace last season, when they finished 9-11 in the Big Ten. They didn’t record their eighth league victory last season until Feb. 22 with a 64-52 decision over Iowa. That left UW 8-9 in the league.

"I knew this team was gong to be really good," junior guard Chucky Hepburn said. "I seen it from the first practice we had in the summer. Even just playing open gym, I could just see how good this team was going to be."

The Spartans (12-8, 4-5), who opened the season No. 4 in both major top 25 polls, saw their winning streak end at three games and their Big Ten road record fall to 1-4.

The Spartans came in No. 15 nationally in field-goal defense (39.4%) and No. 35 in scoring defense (65.2 ppg).

UW, which has one of the more efficient offenses in the nation, shot 41.7% from three-point range (5 of 12) and 55.6% overall (15 of 27) in the opening half to build a 43-34 halftime lead.

The Badgers cooled off after building the lead to 19 points but finished at 36.0% from three-point range (9 of 25) and 50.9% overall (29 of 57). They led for 37 minutes 58 seconds Friday and never trailed in either game.

Storr and Steven Crowl combined for 40 points and 11 rebounds in UW’s victory over Michigan State last month and that duo killed the Spartans again on Friday.

Storr scored 12 points in the opening half and finished with 28 points. He hit 3 of 8 three-pointers, 9 of 17 shots overall and 7 of 8 free throws. In two games against Michigan State, Storr has hit 7 of 14 three-pointers, 17 of 28 shots overall and 9 of 10 free throws en route to scoring a total of 50 points.

"He is hard to guard," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "He is shooting like this, which I thought was phenomenal tonight… he can shoot it from distance. He’s got a great first step. He’s got great athletic ability. He’s got length. He handles the ball pretty well. He doesn’t miss free throws. That is a lot of plusses."

Storr, who is averaging 17.8 points per game in league play, downplayed his night.

"Really just playing off my bigs," he said. "They like to double the post a lot so it leaves me open to either catch and shoot or make a quick drive to the basket... I’m really just focused on the team and us going far and keep on winning."

Crowl hit 6 of 9 shots and finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists. His biggest basket was a three-pointer with 3 minutes 27 seconds left. that ended a UW scoring drought of more than five minutes and gave UW a 74-59 lead.

No other UW player scored in double figures but six other players scored at least four points.

Tyler Wahl had six points and six rebounds and played terrific defense against Malik Hall (13 points). Max Klesmit, averaging 17.8 points and shooting 17 for 25 from three-point range (68.0%) in the previous five games, added six points, four rebounds and two assists. Hepburn contributed four points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Hepburn's No. 1 job Friday was to help slow Tyson Walker, the Spartans' leading scorer at 19.7 points per game. Walker struggled early and never got into rhythm. He hit 4 of 14 shots and finished with 11 points. That was half of his 22-point total in the teams' first meeting.

"Tyson Walker is a great player," Hepburn said. "He is one of the country’s best scorers. I just knew if I took him out of the game they would struggle and that’s what happened tonight. That was the whole key to the game."

UW’s bench contributed 15 point in the victory in East Lansing and the reserves were more efficient Friday.

With Connor Essegian scoring eight points and Nolan Winter adding six, the bench had 18 points in the opening half. The reserves combined to hit 4 of 6 three-pointers and 8 of 12 shots overall and finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Essegian led the way with eight points, followed by Winter with six, John Blackwell with five, and Carter Gilmore with three.

"We see it every day in practice," Hepburn said of the play of the reserves. "That is what I love about this team. We have so much depth coming off the bench.

"Everybody is ready to play… Anybody who steps onto the floor, they’re ready battle. They’re ready to compete. Nobody is soft on this team. Nobody is selfish on this team."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers earn one of their most impressive victories of the season