Morning State Sports Briefs: UW men's hoops to play North Carolina

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MADISON - The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will play at North Carolina in the annual Big Ten-ACC Challenge on November 30th at Chapel Hill. The pairings were announced Tuesday for the conference matchups.

It will be the first meeting between the two schools since UNC defeated UW in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament back in 2005.

North Carolina made the NCAA Elite Eight in March, falling to Kentucky in the national quarter-finals. The Tar Heels will return most of their starters next fall, including forward Harrison Barnes who averaged 16 points a game last season. Meanwhile, Bo Ryan’s Badgers will have new players upfront. Their best returnees are guards Jordan Taylor and Josh Gasser. Both Wisconsin and North Carolina are 6-6 in the 12 seasons of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. The Badgers crushed N.C. State at home last fall, 87-48. Carolina fell on the road to Illinois by 12.

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University of Wisconsin running back Zach Brown will transfer to another school for his final year. Brown remains third at the tailback position behind Montee Ball and James White. And coach Bret Bielema said yesterday that Brown would explore his options. Because he’ll graduate in August with a history degree, Brown can use final year of eligibility this fall at any school in the NCAA’s former Division-One. His best year was in 2007 as a freshman, when he ran for 568 yards, over 230 of those against Minnesota in the Metrodome. But he had less playing time the following two years – and he red-shirted last season as Ball, White, and John Clay took control of the Wisconsin rushing duties. Brown said as recently as a month ago that he wanted to compete to become Wisconsin’s number-one rusher – but apparently, it wasn’t in the cards. His departure frees up a scholarship. There’s been speculation that former North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson is considering Wisconsin for his final year of eligibility.

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The University of Wisconsin women’s open-weight rowing team is one of 16 named yesterday to the NCAA Championships. The regatta will take place May 27th-through-29th in Gold River, California near Sacramento. It’s the Badgers’ fourth straight bid to the nationals – the first time that’s happened in school history. It’s also Wisconsin’s sixth trip in seven years. They finished seventh a year ago, an all-time high for the Badger open-weight program.

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The UW-Milwaukee baseball team split a double-header at home yesterday against Northern Illinois. The Panthers lost the opener 11-7, but they won the nightcap 13-6. Sam Sivilotti and Doug Dekoning each drove in three runs for Milwaukee in the second game. The Panthers scored 11 runs in the first three innings and never looked back. Phil Striggow homered twice for UWM in the opener. The Panthers are now 25-25-1.

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Milwaukee reliever Zach Braddock tossed three hitless innings last night in his second rehab start for the Class-“A” Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Braddock is getting over a sleep disorder. He struck out two, walked one, and had a throwing error in Wisconsin’s 7-0 loss to the Beloit Snappers. Brewers GM Doug Melvin is hoping to get Braddock and-or Manny Parra back soon. That’s because the Milwaukee bullpen has no left-handers at the moment. Mitch Stetter went on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with discomfort in his left hip. Also yesterday, the Brewers designated reliever Sean Green for assignment. And they brought up veteran back-up catcher Mike Rivera from Triple-“A” Nashville. Melvin said Rivera will provide a much-needed right-handed bat off the bench.

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