No. 16/17 Hoosiers fall to No. 25 Wisconsin

The streak lives on.

For the 11th straight time, the IU men’s basketball team came to the Kohl Center and lost. No. 25 Wisconsin (17-5, 6-3) took control in the second half and defeated the No. 16/17 Hoosiers (16-5, 4-5) 57-50 Thursday night in Madison.

“We put ourselves in position to win, we just didn’t finish it off,” IU Coach Tom Crean said.

The 50 points for the Hoosiers marked their lowest single-game output of the season.

The season-low came despite shooting 46 percent (21-of-46) from the floor. The Badgers, on the other hand, were kept to 39.6 percent (19-of-48) from the floor. Crean said IU’s ability to keep opposing field goal percentages low hasn’t translated into wins.

“This is the third straight game we’ve held an opponent to under 30 percent, and we’ve only got one win to show for it,” Crean said. “But we’re getting better in a lot of areas, and that’s what I want to focus on.”

IU’s bright spots offensively were its lone two scorers in double figures, senior guard Verdell Jones III with 12 points — all of which came in the first half — and junior forward Christian Watford, who also finished with 12 points.

Though IU came in as the Big Ten leader in 3-point field goal percentage at 45 percent, IU shot just 38 percent on 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. IU also posted a season-low four assists on 21 made baskets.

Crean said IU was able to match Wisconsin’s half-court tempo.

“We answered the bell on the pace of play,” Crean said. “They’re going to play at a snail’s pace. That’s what they do.”

While the Hoosiers eventually fell victim to Wisconsin’s half-court offense, it was IU that dictated the tempo early. IU led 27-25 at the half despite no points from freshman forward and leading scorer Cody Zeller.

Zeller sat for the majority of the first half with foul trouble, and Watford said it was difficult for IU to work without him.

“It hurt us a lot,” Watford said. “Having that inside presence like Cody, he’s been there for us all year, and he was in foul trouble. But there’s still no excuse, other guys have got to step up.”

However, the Hoosiers were not able to hold onto their second-half lead. IU led all the way until the 5:21 mark in the second half, but couldn’t overcome the scoring of Wisconsin junior forward Mike Bruesewitz, who gave the Badgers the lead.

“We wore down a little bit down the stretch,” Watford said. “They did a good job of taking some of our strengths away that we got going in the first half.”

Watford also said Wisconsin’s offensive rebounding was the difference.

“We just didn’t do what it took,” Watford said. “We had some rebounding lapses late, and they got a couple key rebounds.”

The Hoosiers were in positions to make stops down the stretch but let the Badgers get second-chance opportunities. IU also had the ability to make it a two-possession lead multiple times down the stretch but couldn’t do it.

Jones said another loss at the Kohl Center was especially frustrating because of IU’s inability to play a complete game.

“It’s very frustrating,” Jones said. “It’s very frustrating when we preach in practice 40 minutes, 40 minutes and we only play 38.”