Another home win, another near heart-breaker. As uplifting as it was for the Badger faithful to see sophomore forward Alando Tucker's buzzer beating tip-in send the Indiana Hoosiers home disappointed with a 62-60 loss, the failure to clamp down on a big lead early is not a good sign of things to come.
With only one game left in the regular season, (Saturday at the Kohl Center against Purdue) the Badgers are heading into the Big Ten Tournament with a fan base that cannot be as secure in their hometown team as it was last year.
This season marked the first time in two years that the Badgers were defeated at home, Jan. 25 by Illinois, a loss that the team is not to be ashamed of. The season also contained three near Madison misfortunes, when the Badgers were able to leg out victories against Michigan State, Iowa and now Indiana.
After senior guard Sharif Chambliss knocked down a jumper to put Wisconsin up 10, 53-43, with just over nine-and-a-half minutes to play, the Badgers failed to hit a field goal until Tucker's game winning shot.
\We went from 53 to 60, and then it was seven free throws and then Tucker's bucket,"" head coach Bo Ryan said.
Even though they did covert those seven attempts, they attempted 14 free throws during the Indiana run.The Badgers shot an anemic 59 percent from the line for the entire game, somehow beating out an even worse Indiana free throw percentage of 52.
The poor performance from the charity stripe went hand-in-hand with their second half field goal shooting. Wisconsin converted on less than 30 percent of their shots in the second half, making as many attempts from the field as they did from the line.
The poor free throw shooting and the near losses to Big Ten rivals at home does not concern the team's leader, senior forward Mike Wilkinson, whose 28 points and nine rebounds led the way for the Badgers. Instead, he believes the tight battles the Badgers have faced can only benefit the team.
""We've been there,"" Wilkinson said. ""I think it helps that we've been in these types of games, that we've had these experiences and just to stay calm at the ends of games and not press anything and get what we want.""
Tucker and Wilkinson-the only Badger players in double digits-paced the way for Wisconsin. Not having that extra scorer may be critical in post-season games, but it does not seem to worry Coach Ryan.
""Well, we'd like to see some more scoring from the perimeter, but we'll take it from any place we can get it,"" Ryan said.
Senior guard Clayton Hanson, the team's leader in 3-point percentage, attempted six field goals, all from behind the arc, and missed all six. Still, Ryan is not concerned about his senior captain's performance.
""The looks that Clayton Hanson had-he's knocked those threes down for four years, but today he just didn't knock them down,"" he said.
The Badgers' intensity and defense on Indiana's star junior guard Bracey Wright, who went 3-13 from the field, was something to commend. Their inability to truly dominate a game on their home floor in conference play this entire season has to be disconcerting, though. In less than a week the Badgers will be away from their Madison sanctuary and at the United Center in Chicago competing against the conference's best in the Big Ten tournament.
Whether Ryan or Wilkinson can admit it, the team's trouble to put conference opponents away must be addressed in time for their second round match-up.
