The Wisconsin Badgers avoided an upset in the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament beating the North Carolina Tar Heels, 79-72 on Thursday. Wisconsin trailed in the final half but rallied to continue their March Madness run and will face the winner of the Xavier-Arizona match-up in the Elite Eight.

Wisconsin forwards Sam Dekker, who had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Frank Kaminsky, who had 19 points and 8 rebounds, led the winning team and guard Bronson Koenig and forward Nigel Hayes also made key baskets in the second half when the Badgers trailed by as much as 7 points. Dekker, who made a career-high in field goals made versus North Carolina, continued his good run in the NCAA tournament and now averages 20.0 points per game in three games after averaging 13.0 points per game in the regular season.

The Tar Heels led 33-31 at halftime and were led by forwards Brice Johnson and Justin Jackson who had 15 points each. Marcus Paige had 12 points for North Carolina, which had a chance to steal the game trailing 71-70 with 54 seconds to go in the game. The Badgers took advantage from the line hitting 20 of 23 free throws compared to the Tar Heels, which shot 12 of 18 from the free throw line.

West Region No. 1 seed Wisconsin beat the Coast Carolina Chanticleers, 86-72 in the opening round and No. 8 Oregon Ducks, 72-65 in the Round of 32. North Carolina, seeded fourth in their bracket, beat Harvard Crimson, 67-65 and the Arkansas Razorbacks, 87-78 in their previous games before getting eliminated by the Badgers.

National Football League star quarterback Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers also continued his support of the Badgers on social media:

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