This one wasn't — to borrow one of University of Wisconsin men's basketball coach Bo Ryan's terms — a "grinder."

Unlike their season opener two days earlier, the Badgers didn't need a late surge to pull away Tuesday night.

Sophomore forward Jon Leuer paced a balanced offense, and 25th-ranked UW led from start to finish in dispatching an undermanned and outgunned Southern Illinois-Edwardsville team 88-58 in front of an announced crowd of 17,230.

Leuer scored a game-high 19 points, senior forward Marcus Landry had 15 points and junior guard Jason Bohannon added 14.

Junior point guard Trevon Hughes also cracked double figures with 11, and the Badgers got points from all over the board — 12 players scored.

"You never know who's going to score, and we're all unselfish," said Leuer, who played 19 minutes off the bench. "We all know that if we cut hard and be assertive, we're going to get good shots."

UW (2-0), which needed plenty of key plays down the stretch to outlast Long Beach State 68-61 Sunday afternoon, opened the game on a 23-10 run. Leuer had nine points during those opening 10 minutes, 56 seconds.

And after the Cougars (1-3) pulled within 25-17 on freshman guard Kevin Stineman's 3-pointer from the right wing, the Badgers closed the first half with a 15-4 spurt. Their balance was on full display during that run — six players accounted for the 15 points, and no one had more than one basket.

But UW's 40-21 halftime advantage had just as much to do with a defense that forced 12 turnovers, blocked four shots — all by Landry, who had five for the game — and limited Edwardsville to 36 percent shooting.

After halftime, it was more of the same.

Leuer finished off an alley-oop from freshman point guard Jordan Taylor to cap an 18-5 run to start the second half and make it 58-26 with 13:31 left.

A little more than 6 minutes later the lead was 39.

That kind of margin allowed Ryan to play 10 reserves, including freshman center Ian Markolf — it was previously unclear whether or not he'd redshirt this season.

"We just tried to make sure that we were running our stuff, and we didn't care who was scoring, and we never have," Ryan said. "But we never get too high or too low, but I like the fact that we moved the ball, we made hard cuts, we touched the post, we didn't get screwy with our decision-making. And that's what you look for in games like this."

The Cougars played without leading scorer and rebounder Mark Yelovich, a freshman forward who missed the game because of a family emergency, and suited up just nine players. They also were just two days removed from playing three games in three days at the Charleston (S.C.) Classic.

"It's been a tough five days," Edwardsville coach Lennox Forrester said. "Four games in five days, and I just thought legs-wise we were dead, and (that's) not to take anything away from the Badgers, because I think they're a very good team."

The competition now ramps up in a hurry for UW.

UW jets off to the U.S. Virgin Islands today for this weekend's Paradise Jam, where the Badgers open up against Iona on Friday and will face either always-tough Valparaiso or San Diego, which returns all its contributors from last year's NCAA tournament team.