MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has been known to have big men who can play from the perimeter.
Six-foot-10 sophomore Jon Leuer showed Tuesday night he may have what it takes to be the next one.
The reserve forward scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting to lead the 25th-ranked Badgers to an 88-58 victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
"His all-around game, there's some potential there. He just needs to bring it all the time," Ryan said. "He comes with the intentions of always getting something done, but sometimes that gets away."
Last year, Leuer scored 25 points against Michigan in his first Big Ten game, setting a school record for most points by a freshman in his conference debut. He was 5-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc coming off the bench in that game, but he largely disappeared after that, ending the season with a scoring average of less than three points per game.
Against Edwardsville (1-3), he showed the same shooting touch he had in his Big Ten debut, hitting both of his 3-point attempts.
"I was just trying to be more assertive. I was open in some spots, and I was able to get some easy ones right away, which kind of got me into rhythm," Leuer said. "That's a big part, just to get in a rhythm. It was a fun game to be out there, everybody being unselfish. I thought we executed really well tonight. ... Any play we called, it seemed like it was working."
The Badgers (2-0) had to pull out a late win in their season opener against Long Beach State on Sunday and struggled in their final exhibition against Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater last week, but this game was never in doubt.
Wisconsin took its first double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the game and pushed it to 41-20 by halftime. The lead hit 30 with 14 minutes left in the second half.
In between, there wasn't much good for the Cougars, who played their fourth game in five days and were without leading scorer Mark Yelovich. The Cougars had 12 turnovers in the first half compared to nine field goals as they shot 36 percent. The struggles continued through the second half against the quicker and more athletic Badgers.
Marcus Landry had 15 points, five rebounds and five blocks, while Jason Bohannon scored 14 and Trevon Hughes added 11 for the Badgers, even though the starters spent most of the second half on the bench.
Edwardsville coach Lennox Forrester said Yelovich, who averages 15 points a game, was missing because of a family emergency.
Berry Wellington led Edwardsville with 15 points, while Aaron Garriott added 11 and Nikola Bundalo had 10.
"It's been a tough five days," Forrester said. "Legs-wise, we were dead. Not to take any credit away from the Badgers. ... Effort-wise, we weren't totally there, just because of it being a long week."
Landry said Leuer's performance came as no surprise to the Badgers.
"I'm in practice with him every day. As his teammate, I know what he's capable of doing," he said. "You're only seeing the beginning of that, I hope."
