Over the final nine minutes and 30 seconds, IU men’s basketball only made a single field en route to a 60-56 loss Saturday afternoon to No. 24 Wisconsin.
The Hoosiers finished the season with an overall record of 19-12 and 9-11 in Big Ten play. The loss was the second time this season that IU couldn’t defeat a ranked team at home.
It was senior day for IU guards Adrian Chapman and Devonte Green and forward De’Ron Davis. Green and Davis started in place of sophomore guard Rob Phinisee and junior center Joey Brunk, and the senior duo secured IU’s first 17 points.
Redshirt freshman guard Jerome Hunter made a 3-pointer with 11:42 remaining in the half, making him the first non-senior player on the scoreboard. Green scored 13 of IU’s 20 points before Hunter’s make.
He led the team into halftime with 16 points while shooting 60% from the field. IU’s second leading scorer was Davis with the four points he scored at the beginning of the game. The Hoosiers led by as many as seven points after the first 20 minutes, but only made two of their last 12 shots.
Coming into the matchup with Wisconsin, freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis led IU with 13.9 points per game. But it wasn’t until 15:16 remained in Saturday’s game that Jackson-Davis scored. Wisconsin was packing the paint since there wasn’t a single IU forward who provided much of a threat from the 3-point line.
The Hoosiers made seven of their last 10 buckets to create some distance from the Badgers. In under five minutes, IU took a seven-point lead. The Hoosiers made it a nine-point lead on the following bucket from sophomore forward Race Thompson.
Wisconsin forward Micah Potter had 14 points, but played most of the second half in foul trouble. IU had issues defending him and the rest of Wisconsin’s frontcourt. Wisconsin used a 10-0 run over a span of two and a half minutes to take a 54-51 lead. It was the Badgers' first lead since they led 13-12 in the first half.
The Hoosiers never retook the lead after they fell behind. IU junior guard Al Durham made a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining to end a field drought of almost nine minutes. His pair of free throws with 11.5 seconds remaining would be the final points IU would score.
Green led IU with 16 points, but only scored three after having 13 of IU’s first 20 points. He missed all seven of his second-half shot attempts. Jackson-Davis finished with six points and eight rebounds while Thompson had seven points and 11 rebounds.
Up next for the Hoosiers is the Big Ten Tournament where they'll be the No. 11 seed. They’ll play in the first round of games Wednesday for the first time in program history.
