Bronson Koenig made a school-record eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points and Nigel Hayes added 16 as NCAA Tournament-tested Wisconsin advanced in the East Region with an 84-74 victory over Virginia Tech on Thursday night.
The eighth-seeded Badgers (26-9) made all the big plays in the closing minutes to set up a meeting with top-seeded Villanova on Saturday.
The Wildcats shook off a sluggish and strange first half and downed Mount St. Mary's 76-56.
No team understands the survive-and-advance mentality in this tourney better than Wisconsin, the only team in the country to make the Sweet 16 last three years.
And the Badgers counted on Koenig and Hayes, two of their four senior starters, to get them within one win of another trip to the third round.
Zach Leday scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half to pace the Hokies (22-11), making their first NCAA visit since 2007.
