The first 10 minutes of the showdown between Illinois and Wisconsin Tuesday night was like a dream come true for Badger fans.
The next 30 might as well have been a nightmare as the Fighting Illini manhandled the Badgers and walked out of the Kohl Center with a 66-51 victory.
UW sophomore forward Brian Butch opened up the game with a 3-pointer. On the other end of the court, Illinois started slow; senior guard Dee Brown missed a 3-pointer of his own, senior forward James Augustine picked up a foul and sophomore forward Brian Randle missed a dunk'all in the same possession. On their next possession, Brown missed a layup and then both his free throws after he was fouled on his offensive rebound.
Wisconsin proceeded to take the ball down the court as senior forward Ray Nixon hit his own three-pointer; 6-0, Wisconsin.
For the next eight minutes, the Badgers slowly pulled away to an 11-point lead with 9:25 left in the first half. It was then that Illinois found its game, going on a 19-0 run to lead the Badgers by eight points. That was the last the Badgers saw of first place in the Big Ten.
Illinois' game picked up as the Badgers wore down. The Illini bench had 12 points, all from freshman guard Jamar Smith who was 4-4 from the field, to the Badgers' four, two each from sophomore guard Michael Flowers and freshman forward Joe Krabbenhoft.
The Badgers only hit three 3-pointers Tuesday. Two came in the first two-and-a-half minutes, and junior guard Kammron Taylor's came four minutes later. The Badgers ended the game a miserable 3-for-20 from beyond the arc.
'[We were] trying to establish something and it didn't happen for us,' Badger head coach Bo Ryan said. 'Unfortunately, the next option is you get a kick-out for some outside shots, and we don't hit those either. So, if you don't score inside and outside, it's very difficult for us to be on the left-hand side [of the win-loss column].'
Illinois also controlled the glass, out-rebounding Wisconsin 43-28, including what was likely the deciding factor of the game'15 offensive rebounds. These hurt not only because they led to second-chance points (Illinois had 10), but also because it led to the Badgers spending significantly more time on defense, wearing down what was already a shallow bench.
'[Sophomore center] Shaun [Pruitt] had a big one off [an Illinois missed] free throw that really broke their back,' Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. 'And all of a sudden, there's silence in the place. And that's what you want to hear on the road: silence.'
'When you let them have second-chance opportunities like that, it's tough,' Ryan said. 'Even though they only out-scored us by four points on second-chance opportunities, they still got a chance to run some offense on those other possessions that they got.'
But senior forward James Augustine was Weber's dream realized, bringing something intangible to Illinois, something more than just his seven points, nine rebounds (eight defensive) and one steal. Augustine, in foul trouble less than five minutes into the game, had to sit down with the Wisconsin up 9-7, and watch as his team fell behind by 11 points. But the demeanor of the Illini changed the moment Augustine subbed back into the game with eight minutes left in the half, and the Badgers' efforts to respond to Illinois' 19-point offensive surge was futile.
'James was in foul trouble and it's going bad for us, so I just said to heck with it, get him back in there,' Weber said. 'We kind of gambled. He stayed most of the rest of the half with two fouls and we had that good run.'
Tucker praised the impact of Augustine's presence on the floor for the Illini.
'Man, he makes a big difference,' junior guard Alando Tucker said. 'When he went out of the game, things were going our way, then he came back in [and Illinois went on their 19-0 run]. That just shows the type of player he is, he just changes the game with his presence on the floor...As soon as he came in I saw them pick their heads back up.'
