The Badgers dropped to 17-7 (8-5 Big Ten) Thursday night after losing to No. 9 Michigan State 77-64. In the two teams' last meeting, the Badgers overcame an eight-point deficit in the final two minutes of the game to beat the Spartans 62-59 and had handed Michigan State (11-2 Big Ten, 20-4 overall) a loss the last time they made the trip to East Lansing.
Usually impervious to the ill effects of the Spartan crowd, the Badgers struggled offensively, much to the delight of the \Izzone"", Michigan State senior guard Alan Anderson found ""his zone,"" scoring a career-high 28 points and shooting a perfect 10-10 from the field and 7-7 from the free throw line.
The Spartans jumped out to a 20-6 advantage but allowed Wisconsin back in the game, taking a 33-25 lead into halftime. The Michigan State backcourt provided a relentless onslaught of offensive firepower and the Badgers could only counter with a notable lack of offensive rhythm and productivity.
Michigan State senior guards Anderson, Chris Hill, Kelvin Torbert, as well as junior guard Maurice Ager and sophomore Shannon Brown combined for 56 of the Spartans' 77 points, while the Badger backcourt mustered only 11 points. Sophomore forward Alando Tucker led Wisconsin with 18 points and senior forward Mike Wilkinson chipped in 16 points, the only Badger players to score in double digits.
With a fourth consecutive Big Ten title out of the question for Wisconsin-but an NCAA tournament bid a mortal lock-last night's game and the ones remaining serve mostly as preparation for the conference tournament. The Badgers could have another crack at the Spartans to win the season series and improve their bid for the Big Dance. A loss is never good, but Thursday night's was against a national title contender.
Other than that, the Badgers were simply overmatched and turn their attention to their final road test of the season when they take on Ohio State Sunday in Columbus.
