Indianapolis, IN -- (Sports Network) - Brian Butch scored 12 points to lead the eighth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers past the Fighting Illini of Illinois, 61-48, in the Big Ten championship game.

Marcus Landry added 10 points for the Badgers (29-4), who captured their first Big Ten title since 2004 and picked up the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers earned a three seed out of the Midwest Region and will play Cal State Fullerton on Thursday in Omaha in the first round. Joe Krabbenhoft hauled in seven rebounds in the win for Wisconsin, which won both the conference's regular season and tournament for the first time in school history.

Shaun Pruitt tallied 13 points and eight boards for the 10th-seeded Fighting Illini (16-19), who last won the championship in 2005. Calvin Brock chipped in 10 points in defeat, but Illinois fell short of reaching the NCAA Tournament.

A pair of free throws from Brock put Illinois on top 8-4 with 14:17 left in the first half.

Moments later, five points from Butch put top-seeded Wisconsin back in the lead, 18-12.

A Brian Randle tip-in closed the gap to two points, 22-20, for the Illini. Though, the Badgers scored seven of the final nine points of the half to take a 29-22 lead into the locker room.

Trevon Hughes scored the final four Wisconsin points of the half.

"I think we could have kept our poise a little bit more early," Pruitt said. "I think as a team we tried to do a little too much too soon and you can't do that versus Wisconsin. They're so disciplined and systematic that margin for error is very small; if you make mistakes, they're going to capitalize on it."

A Pruitt layup brought the Illini within 10, but Michael Flowers answered with a three-pointer that gave Wisconsin its biggest to that point, 39-26, about 3 1/2 minutes into the half.

Pruitt recorded the first eight Illinois points of the second half.

The schools traded baskets and the Badgers held their 13-point lead until Butch connected on five straight points and Jason Bohannon added a jumper to make it 55-35 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in regulation.

The Illini fought hard down the stretch, but only managed to close to within 13 points.

"These guys do take pride in what they do," Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. "And it starts not just in the post, not just on the perimeter, not just -- it's not any one thing, it's just -- the rules that we have, this team has adhered to this point to the rules better in the past two and a half months, I think, of probably any team that I've coached. And if we keep doing those things, then we can keep playing. I hope we don't change."

Game Notes

Illinois hit 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) from the charity stripe and 3-of-13 (23.1 percent) from beyond the arc. Wisconsin was a perfect 2-of-2 from the line and 9-of-18 from behind the arc...The Illini became the lowest seed, 10th, to play in the Big Ten title game since 1999. Ironically, Illinois was that team that year as well, as the Illini navigated the field as the No. 11 seed...This is the sixth Big Ten title game for Illinois, which has claimed two championships (2003 and 2005)...Wisconsin and Illinois in the Big Ten title matchup is almost commonplace, as this was the third occurrence since 2004. Wisconsin won in 2004 and Illinois won in 2005.