Hoosiers fall to Wisconsin in Big Ten Tournament semifinals

CHICAGO — Throughout their careers in Bloomington, Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford and Derek Elston, have taken down nearly every obstacle in their way.

The trio of seniors started its freshman season with 10 wins and has now clinched a No. 1 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Yet, the Hoosier seniors left the United Center Saturday afternoon with one task that most likely will never be completed.

After losing to Wisconsin 68-56 in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, IU’s three seniors never have experienced a win against the Badgers, going 0-8 against Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan.

Through the years, Ryan and the Badgers have been known as a physical, methodical team, running down the shot clock in attempt to find the perfect shot. IU Coach Tom Crean has said all season that his program is built around speed and scoring.

Saturday, though, the Badgers were able to execute their own game plan while beating IU at its own game.

Wisconsin started the game off by scoring its first 18 points from inside the 3-point line.

The Hoosiers managed to hold Wisconsin’s big man Jared Berggren at bay on the offensive end for much of the half, but he proved tough to deal with for sophomore forward Cody Zeller. Zeller got off just four shots in the first half as Berrgren made it tough for Zeller to get to the hoop.

On the two shots Zeller missed, Berggren was charged with fouls each time, sending him to the bench with 7:55 left in the first half, but Zeller went just 2-of-4 from the charity stripe from both trips.

As Berggren went to the bench, IU had amassed a 22-16 lead despite the Badgers’ success in the paint. Without Berggren for the rest of the half, though, Wisconsin moved behind the arc to work its way back into the game and build a three-point halftime lead.

The Badgers went on a 10-0 run in just 2:37, putting up shots at a much quicker pace than normal, a style much more characteristic of the Hoosiers.

Wisconsin’s Ben Brust hit a 3-pointer with 6:24 left in the half to take the lead at 23-22, and then Mike Bruesewitz followed to cap off the 10-point surge.

Crean said one of the things his team had been succeeding at lately was defending the long shot, but he said it was one of several key things his players got away from Saturday.

“We’ve been defending the three the last six, seven games at an incredibly high level, and today we didn’t,” Crean said. “They got some kick-out threes and things of that nature, but we got away from what had been making us better. We started to over-help again, and tried to cover for one another when there was no need to do it.”

Zeller managed a tough layup inside to stop the bleeding for a moment, but Wisconsin’s George Marshall followed with the first of his two 3-pointers.

Zeller and junior guard Victor Oladipo grabbed a few late buckets, and Watford hit a fade-away 3-pointer from the left wing to pull the Hoosiers within just three at the half.

But after the Hoosiers pulled close, the Badgers began the second half on a 6-0 run to force Crean into an early timeout just three minutes in.

Zeller and freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell came out of the timeout and brought IU right back. Zeller fought hard for a dunk while drawing a foul on Bruesewitz, completing the 3-point play. He then tipped in a miss from junior forward Will Sheehey on the next possession, and as Ferrell drove to the bucket with an off-hand layup, the Hoosiers were tied.

Crean would take out the pair just moments later, though, with the game tied 43-43, and Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker would go on a 7-0 run on his own to pull the Badgers back ahead 50-43.

“The biggest disappointment is every time we had something working, like I said, we had to come back in, and we didn’t stick with it enough,” Crean said.

IU would get within a single point, 50-49, but the Hoosiers never seemed to have quite the same energy. Once again, they fell behind by six during the start of another scoring drought which would last the remainder of the game, finishing the final 9:45 shooting just 3-of-15 from the field.

The Hoosiers now enter the NCAA Tournament on a 3-3 skid after the team’s come-from-behind victory on the road against Michigan State. Crean said after the game that on the tail of Friday’s 80-64 revenge victory against Illinois in the second round, he felt his team was right back on track playing some of its best basketball.

After Saturday, he wasn’t sure.

“It doesn’t undo what we have done to this point,” Crean said. “We have had an excellent season. There’s room for growth, there’s no doubt about that, but we would have liked to have played better today, no question.”