Riding yet another standout performance from junior point guard Devin Harris, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team (18-6, 9-4) kept itself in the thick of this year’s Big Ten title race with a 68-45 rout of Penn State (9-15, 3-10) at the Kohl Center Wednesday night.

Harris finished the game with 25 points, five rebounds and three assists, while not committing a single turnover.

With their heady floor general leading the way, the Badgers jumped out to an early 19-4 lead. Harris reeled off three treys, knocked down a free throw and dished out an assist during this stretch, and Wisconsin held an advantage on the scoreboard throughout the rest of the contest.

Like the Badgers’ previous two opponents, the Nittany Lions primarily made use of a zone defense in an effort to slow down UW head coach Bo Ryan’s swing offense.

But unlike Illinois and Michigan, Penn State was never able to get Wisconsin out of sync on a consistent basis.

“I just didn’t think we could guard [Harris] man-to-man tonight up here,” PSU head coach Ed DeChellis said. “I just thought they would post up (Boo) Wade and (Freddie) Owens, and we wanted to try and limit their opportunities. We knew Harris was going to score but we were going to try and limit the other guys, and we thought that the zone could do that.”

Wade and Owens finished the game with just two and eight points, respectively, but their ball distribution and performances on the defensive end made up for their lack of scoring.

Wade dished out six assists and swiped three steals — both of which were game-highs — while his backcourt mate Owens snared down two rebounds, registered two assists and had a hand in holding Penn State’s Ben Luber scoreless on 0-4 shooting.

“Guys did a good job of stepping up tonight, even if it wasn’t scoring,” said UW forward Mike Wilkinson, who finished the game with 14 points and a game-high nine boards. “They did a lot of different things, especially on the defensive end, that I think really helped us overall. They got some steals, they played good defense, they got some key rebounds.”

Although Wilkinson and Wisconsin were able to jump out to an early lead, they entered halftime with just a 30-22 advantage.

And Penn State used its late-first-half surge and carry it into the contest’s second stanza, cutting the game to as close as 30-26 with 17:36 left to play.

This was the closest they would get, however, as the Badgers made use of a timeout to regroup and then sailed to an easy win.

“We came out in the second half and got some open looks that we didn’t knock down in the first few minutes, and they did a good job of going down there and getting what they wanted,” Wilkinson said. “But we got to the point where we got a couple baskets, and then we got some stops. Then the crowd got into it, and it just kind of went on from there.”

A large part of UW’s second-half success can be attributed to the team’s ability to contain Penn State forward Jan Jagla at the offensive end.

After scoring 14 points on 6-9 shooting in the game’s first half, Jagla netted just two points in the contest’s final 20 minutes.

“Jagla’s been played by perimeter players, big players; he’s been played by a lot of different players,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “In the second half we got into a good rotation on him, where different guys played him. And he didn’t get real comfortable in the second half. He was in a lounge chair in the first half, he was that comfortable.”

Aside from the increased pressure on Jagla, Coach Ryan just felt the Badgers’ offense was flowing better in the game’s second half.

“How about 19 assists for 24 fields goals? I was impressed with that. I was pleased with that because that’s what you have to do against a zone,” Ryan said. “You can’t drive into the middle and pull up and take all jump shots. You can’t take step-back threes, which means you created your own shot, which means there’s not an assist involved there. I thought we did a good job of moving the ball. We have to continue to do that.”

The victory over the Nittany Lions ended a two-game skid in conference play for the Badgers. The team will be in action again Sunday when it plays the final home game of the season against Purdue (17-9, 7-6).