CHICAGO—After a record-breaking regular season, the Wisconsin Badgers' postseason ended prematurely.
Second-seeded UW fell to seventh seeded UNLV in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday 74-68. The loss marked the first time Bo Ryan's Badgers (30-6) have ever lost to a lower seeded team.
Rebel senior guards Wendell White and Kevin Kruger, son of head coach Lon Kruger, torched UW with 22 and 17 points, respectively, and junior forward Curtis Terry hit a couple of big shots, propelling UNLV into a Sweet 16 matchup with Oregon.
""Not everything's easy when you get into the NCAA Tournament,"" Badger head coach Bo Ryan said. ""You still got to win six games and you can meet a team early or late.""
The Badgers met theirs early. After battling back from a 13-point deficit, UW tied the game at 46 with just over 10 minutes remaining on a spectacular rebound and put-back by freshman guard Jason Bohannon.
Senior guard Kammron Taylor knocked down two free throws just a minute later to give Wisconsin its first lead since the opening bucket of the game. Moments later a 3-point play by junior center Greg Stiemsma gave UW a 5-point lead.
The Rebels responded, as Kruger knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers and scored 11 out of UNLV's 13 points in one stretch, pushing the Rebel lead right back to eight, 64-56, with just over three minutes remaining.
""Wisconsin made a big time run and I thought our response right there, when we were down five, really shows the progress and growth of these guys,"" said. ""They've done that all year.""
""When we lost that lead and they took theirs, we didn't have the shots we needed to overcome that,"" Ryan said.
Two Taylor free throws got the lead back down to five, but Terry, half-brother of the Dallas Mavericks' Jason Terry, knocked down a 3-pointer as the shot-clock expired.
Taylor would not let the Badgers' hopes die though, as he stormed down the court and knocked down another 3-pointer and followed that up with a 3-point play, curring the lead back to three, 70-67.
But Terry, who came in for the injured Wink Adams, answered the bell again. In a play set up for Terry to drive and dish the ball out when he saw an extra defender help out, Bohannon was the only defender in sight.
""Nobody helped so I just had to put it up and the shot went in,"" Terry said.
The Badgers' loss marks the end of the Wisconsin careers for Taylor as well as forwards Alando Tucker and Jason Chappell. After the game, Tucker said he wouldn't trade it for anything.
""We got to 30 wins, we also lost six, but it all came as a unit and we all stuck together as a family,"" said Tucker, who closed out his UW career with a 17-point, seven-rebound game.
In the first round matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Taylor scored all 24 of his points in the second half. Against UNLV, Taylor put up 19 of his game-high 24 in the second frame..
After the game, the senior couldn't explain his in-game Jekyll and Hyde performances.
""Things just started to fall, it feels like in our last couple games, in the second half,"" Taylor said. ""Unfortunately, it was too late today.""
Like the TAMU-CC game, the Badgers fell behind early. After a bucket by junior guard Michael Flowers gave the Badgers a 2-0 lead, Adams hit two 3-pointers that sparked an 8-0 run for the Rebels. White hit two free throws with 5:36 remaining in the first half to push the lead to 13. Though the Badgers were able to come back, the Rebels shot 10-of-20 from behind the 3-point arc, which proved to be the dagger.
""The overall piece of work I was very impressed with this group [was] how they hung in there,"" Ryan said. ""It took a team to go 10 for 20 from three to get us out and to their credit they were able to do that.""
For Wisconsin basketball, there is always next season, but for Tucker, Taylor and Chappell, this is the end.
""After a game like this, it's only right to be frustrated,"" Tucker said, ""because we don't get to strap them up again, we don't get to step on the court.""
But for Flowers, junior forward Brian Butch, sophomore forward Marcus Landry and the rest of the Badgers, there is a next year. The preparation for 2007-'08 begins.
Ryan: Butch wasn't going to play this weekend
After the game, Ryan said that Butch was fatigued at practice Saturday and simply wasn't ready to go. He also said that had there been a Sweet 16 game, he was hopeful for Butch getting into it. Ryan, though, commended Butch's efforts in making a comeback attempt.
