STATE COLLEGE — No. 5 Wisconsin couldn't control Penn State's D.J. Newbill on Wednesday night, so the Badgers settled for stopping all his teammates.

Sam Dekker scored 22 points and Frank Kaminsky added 16 as No. 5 Wisconsin overcame a late Penn State surge to defeat the Nittany Lions 55-47.

Dekker and Penn State's D.J. Newbill waged an entertaining scoring battle. Newbill got 29 points, but the next-highest scorer for Penn State (15-12, 3-11) was Brandon Taylor with seven.

The Badgers (24-2, 12-1), despite shooting 39 percent, were aided by Nigel Hayes' 13 rebounds and nine points.

“We kept trying to get stops on the other end,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “If Newbill wants to get a shot, he's going to get a shot. With how strong he is with the ball and deception and change of directions. We wanted to be sure we didn't let anybody else get hot. Fortunately they didn't.”

Wisconsin's 24th victory marked the school's best start in program history.

Seventeen of Penn State's 27 games have been decided by eight points or fewer.