MINNEAPOLIS, March 27 (UPI) -- A virtual one-man show by Marquis Estill allowed the Kentucky Wildcats to survive an injury to their star player Thursday night and advance to the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Region final with a 63-57 victory over Wisconsin.
Kentucky (32-3), top seeded in the region and the decided pre-tournament favorite, won its 26th straight game. The Wildcats did so with Keith Bogans sitting out the final 24 minutes with a sprained left ankle.
Bogans is questionable for Saturday's regional final against Marquette, which eliminated Pittsburgh in the second semifinal game.
"We feel good about the win," Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith said. "After we lost Keith Bogans and we weren't really getting our shots to drop early in the game, we kept our composure and found a way to win."
Estill scored a career-high 28 points, dominating the inside and becoming Kentucky's chief option after Bogans left the game.
Even so, Wisconsin closed to within a point when Michael Wilkinson hit a layup with 1:10 remaining.
Kentucky's Erik Daniels then tipped in a miss by Estill with 61 seconds left and the Badgers, regular-season champions of the Big Ten Conference, collapsed down the stretch.
Wilkinson committed a traveling violation with 49 seconds to go and, after Estill hit one of two free throws to boost Kentucky's lead to four points, Wilkinson missed a pair of foul shots.
Wilkinson then committed his fifth foul while trying to rebound his second free throw miss and Daniels made one of two from the line with 21 seconds to make it 60-55. Daniels was Kentucky's second-leading scorer with nine -- 21 points fewer than Estill.
Kirk Penney led Wisconsin with 20 points, Devin Harris had 15 and Wilkinson 13. They combined for all but nine of the Badgers' points.
Wisconsin led by as many as six in the early going as Penney hit three straight three-point shots. But Kentucky scored the final six points of the half to take a 32-28 advantage at the intermission.
Kentucky was unable to pull away in the second half, but the Wildcats were able to keep the lead thanks to Estill.
The Badgers' season came to an end at 24-8.
Bogans briefly stayed in the locker room when the second half began while x-rays were taken, and then returned to the bench to cheer on his teammates. Bogans, who is fourth on the school's all-time scoring list, looked OK jumping around watching the game's final moments.
"He was our biggest cheerleader over there, screaming and hollering," Daniels said. "That is good in a leader when he is not playing, when he is showing support for you."
Bogans was limited to five points in 15 minutes. He averages 16 points a game.
Bogans was defending Wisconsin's Kirk Penney when Penney lost the ball and crashed into Bogans with 3:32 left before halftime. Bogans appeared to land awkwardly on his left foot.
"I was down low in the post and made an up-and-under move," Penney said. "I kind of went into him and I think he fell awkwardly."
"We know it's a high ankle sprain," Smith said. "They took an x-ray, so there's no crack or anything of that nature. It's just something he's going to have to get treatment on and hopefully he'll be ready on Saturday."
Estill's onslaught was relentless. He made 12 of 18 shots and helped get Wilkinson and Badgers reserve Dave Mader in foul trouble. The 6-11 Mader was forced into action and finished with four fouls in just five minutes.
"We knew they liked to front the post and I was able to get the ball," Estill said. "My teammates did a great job getting me the basketball."
Kentucky held a 40-14 advantage in points in the paint thanks to Estill. Chuck Hayes grabbed seven rebounds to help the Wildcats to a 33-26 edge on the glass.
"We tried to make him (Estill) do some different things, but he's stronger and bigger with what he does than we were to stop him," Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan said. "His hands are pretty good."
The Wildcats also put the clamps on the Penney in the second half. Penney scored 17 of his 20 points over the first 20 minutes, but managed only three shots the rest of the way.
"I felt the rest of the team was getting good looks, so there wasn't a need to force it," Penney said. "In hindsight, maybe I would have liked more looks."
