For all of last season's achievements — a record number of victories, the first No. 1 ranking in program history, the highest NCAA tournament seed in school history — the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team had nothing tangible to take away from its efforts.

"Not getting the conference championship last year or the conference tournament championship, and losing in the second round last year in the NCAAs. ... We put in so much work last year and we came up short," senior guard Michael Flowers said Saturday. "We pretty much have nothing to remember last year by in terms of hardware. ... We don't have any rings or anything like that, so this season we came out with a little term — 'If you don't have the ring, it don't mean a thing.' "

Start sizing up those ring fingers, Badgers.

Behind 15 points from junior forward Marcus Landry, 12 points from senior forward/center Brian Butch and 10 points from senior center Greg Stiemsma, a sellout crowd of 17,190 at the Kohl Center watched 10th-ranked UW earn at least a share of the Big Ten Conference regular-season title with Wednesday night's 77-41 victory over Penn State.

"It's absolutely awesome. Point blank, that's all you can say," Butch said. "This is why we play, this is why we run the (Elver Park) hill, that's why we do all the stuff that nobody likes doing. It's for moments like this. We had a great year last year, but we didn't have anything to show for it. ... This year at least we have something to show for it so far."

By virtue of having one fewer loss than both Purdue and Indiana, the Badgers (25-4 overall, 15-2 Big Ten) — who last won a Big Ten title in 2003 — can claim the title outright if they are able to win Saturday's regular-season finale at Northwestern.

The 17th Big Ten title in UW history came on Senior Night, the final home game for Flowers, Butch, Stiemsma and guard Tanner Bronson. That group now has been around for 99 victories, tied for the most during a four-year span in school history.

"I think it still kind of seems surreal. This whole Senior Night, last game of our careers here. Those are pretty big things to look at," Stiemsma said. "To achieve what we did tonight, I think it's really special. It's one of those things where it doesn't seem like it should happen, but I don't know if it's fate or whatever it is, but things just fell into place for us and we took care of our end."

And the Badgers, who had won their previous seven games against Penn State (14-15, 6-11) at the Kohl Center by an average of 23.1 points, wasted little time in taking control.

UW owned a 19-10 lead before the first half was 10 minutes old, and had built a 34-17 advantage by halftime.

The Badgers continued to pour it on in the second half, opening the final 20 minutes with a 14-3 run that featured eight points by Landry.

After junior swingman Joe Krabbenhoft threw down his first collegiate slam dunk with 11:26 to play, the Badgers owned a 57-25 lead.

By the time Bronson entered the game to a loud ovation with 4:51 to play, UW's lead was 70-33, and the celebration was essentially on.

First came the "Thank you seniors" chant from the student section, and it was well deserved.

In addition to Butch and Stiemsma's scoring contributions, Flowers finished with a career-high nine assists (no turnovers) and a game-high eight rebounds. And Bronson drained a long 3-pointer with 2:29 to play that brought the house down.

A few moments later, the chant was "Big Ten champs." And shortly after time expired, fans streamed onto the court to join in the celebration — one that saw Bronson, Stiemsma and Butch hoisted above the crowd and Flowers standing atop a makeshift stage wearing a Big Ten champions hat and showing off a Big Ten champions T-shirt.

"It's a great feeling to see this group come together the way they did," UW coach Bo Ryan said. "To have it all culminate in Senior Night to clinch at least a piece of the Big Ten championship, it's just sweet. I'm so happy for them."