Ratliff pours in 20 in IU upset victory

A.J. Ratliff walked toward the IU students at the south end of Branch McCracken Court, his arms raised to the rafters. There were 8.6 seconds remaining on the clock, but he cracked a smile anyway.\nHe knew the game was already over.\nThe Hoosiers (16-5, 6-2 Big Ten) defeated the No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers (21-2, 7-1 Big Ten) 71-66 on Wednesday night in Assembly Hall behind 20 points from Ratliff. The junior guard poured in 18 of his 20 during the second half on 4-for-5 three-point shooting. \n"My teammates were looking for me," Ratliff said. "I've gotta credit Earl (Calloway), he was looking for me and Rod (Wilmont). D.J. (White) had a lot of attention down there (in the paint), which opened up for me."\nThe Hoosiers trailed in the early going and went into halftime down two, at 28-26. But Ratliff and the Hoosiers came out firing in the second half, shooting a combined 62.5 percent from the field. \nRatliff started the second half on the bench, but entered the game at the 18:56 mark after freshman guard Armon Bassett picked up his fourth foul. Just a few minutes later, Ratliff nailed a 3-pointer with 14:51 remaining, knotting up the score at 40. From that point on, the Hoosiers did not trail, and Ratliff did not let up.\nWith IU up by three and 5:15 remaining, Ratliff came back into the game off the bench and scored six points within the next 1 1/2 minutes.\n"I felt that somebody had to step up and play. D.J. was making plays, but I was just feeling it," he said. "I was hitting all my shots, and teammates were counting on me. I had confidence, and my teammates had confidence."\nRatliff came off the bench yet again for IU coach Kelvin Sampson and the Hoosiers Wednesday night and led the bench in scoring for the third consecutive game. White paced the Hoosier offense early on in the contest and finished the game with 16 points and five rebounds. \nWisconsin forward Alando Tucker tallied a game-high 23 points on 8-for-16 shooting in the losing effort. But Sampson said he felt his team did a good job of defending the Badgers' star forward. Ratliff said the task of defending Tucker wasn't so easy.\n"He's tough. He's strong like a bull, and he makes plays around the basket," Ratliff said. "When they needed a basket, (he scored) every time the ball was in his hands. He's probably the hardest person to guard in the country right now."\nThe win ended the Badgers 17-game winning streak -- the longest in the nation -- and improved the Hoosiers' home winning streak to 14, including a 12-0 mark this season.\n"I'm proud of our kids," Sampson said. "This was a great win for this group of kids for a lot of reasons"