Hoosiers offense stifled by Badgers

During the Tom Crean era in Bloomington, the IU men’s basketball team has surpassed several hurdles, but Hoosier fans may have to wait another year before IU can take down Wisconsin with Crean at the helm.

After never truly getting into an offensive rhythm, save an 18-point first half performance from sophomore forward Cody Zeller, the No. 2 Hoosiers could not surmount a second-half comeback after falling behind by double digits, losing 64-59 to the Badgers Tuesday night at Assembly Hall.

Coming into Tuesday’s matchup with Wisconsin, the Hoosiers had been held to less than 70 points just twice this season, both times resulting in wins against Georgia and Iowa.

But in nine of the last 10 meetings between the Hoosiers and the Badgers, IU had reached the 70-point threshold just once, a Big Ten tournament loss last season 79-71.

“They’re going to try to play a game in the 50s, and that’s just the way it is,” Crean said. “We didn’t want to play that way. I’m not as concerned about what we scored. I’m more concerned that when we missed shots that we still didn’t have that ‘we’re getting it done."

Junior guard Victor Oladipo put the Hoosiers on the board quick, though, with a 3-pointer from the top of the key in IU’s first possession.

From there, the Badgers were able to stifle most of IU’s offensive production in the first half, keeping the team to just 32 points as well as just three on the fast break.

The lone bright spot for the Hoosiers in the first 20 minutes came from Zeller, who went on two scoring runs, of eight and six points, respectively, to help keep the Hoosiers in the thick of things. Along with senior forward Christian Watford’s 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left in the half, the Hoosiers went into the break with a 32-31 lead.

But in the second half, it appeared that Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan had found a way to neutralize Zeller by eliminating him as an open option for that extra pass which burned the Badgers in the first half. Zeller managed just five points in the final 20 minutes to finish with a game-high of 23.

And without much scoring late from Zeller, the IU offense struggled.

“You get momentum going, and it’s amazing what can happen,” Crean said. “They played really hard, and they got the momentum. We didn’t make shots like we do, and it affected us, because they you’ve got to go down and play 35 seconds of
defense.”

The Hoosiers fell behind by as many as 10 points in the second half as Wisconsin built up a lead during a 2:54 stint midway through the period. As IU failed to score, the Badgers rattled off nine-consecutive points to go up 47-39.

The Wisconsin lead would reach its peak at 51-41 to cap a 13-2 Badger run, but the game seemed to turn from there for a moment.

The Hoosiers, as a team, seemed to find their offensive touch for the first time all game. Watford and Oladipo hit back-to-back buckets, with a steal from Zeller in between, and IU was back within a couple possessions.

The game stalled for more than two-and-a-half minutes as several loose-ball and foul calls failed to go IU’s way, but with three-consecutive Hoosier free throws and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, IU was back within one, 52-51.

But the IU offense could not keep the momentum going. The Hoosiers would make just one field goal after Ferrell’s three with 4:43 left, and down the stretch, Wisconsin again pulled farther ahead with a string of six free throws to end the game and give IU it’s 11th-straight loss to the Badgers.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Crean said. “We missed 34 shots. A lot of things have got to go right for you when you miss 34 shots.”