The Badgers entered the contest with home-court advantage and a higher ranking than the Fighting Illini, but with junior guard Demetri McCamey playing well, the Fighting Illini knew they had a chance if they received offensive production from their frontcourt against the much smaller Badgers. That's exactly what the underdogs did to earn a major victory for their team this season.
When preparing for Illinois' offense, McCamey is the obvious threat as the team's leading scorer and most recent Big Ten Player of the Week. But a more fascinating element heading into last night's game was the size differential between Wisconsin and the Fighting Illini.
Illinois started junior center Mike Tisdale standing at 7'1"", along with junior forwards Mike Davis and Bill Cole, each 6'9"". The Badgers, playing without injured forward Jon Leuer, have been starting a three-guard lineup, with 6'6"" junior forward Tim Jarmusz.
Wisconsin could not have started the game better, storming out to an 8-0 lead. After a jumper by Tisdale, a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Jordan Taylor handed Wisconsin an 11-2 lead. But Tisdale converted another jumper to stop the bleeding and steal some of the momentum the Badgers had mounted.
Wisconsin's offense slowed down, and Tisdale converted two more field goals after three Illinois free throws to cut the lead to seven just after the halfway point in the first half. At that point, Tisdale was the only Illini player to make a field goal, shooting 4-for-5 from the floor with the rest of Illinois 0-for-9. And it was not until a McCamey layup with 6:01 remaining in the first half that another Illini player scored from the field.
On the other hand, Wisconsin's offense became sporadic. After hitting their first three 3s of the game, the Badgers shot 3-of-8 from long distance and could not put any points up in the paint. Several times midway through the first half, UW players attacked the rim and came up with nothing.
""We drove to the basket several times thought we were going to get to the free throw line,"" Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. ""I thought our guys got a little gun-shy when we didn't get there.""
The Badgers also came up empty on low-post attempts. Perhaps the most telling sign of that came in the second half when junior forward Keaton Nankivil gathered an entry pass to the low post while matched up one-on-one with Tisdale, and instead of looking to make a play for himself or one of his teammates with his superior position, Nankivil simply dribbled the ball back out to the perimeter before dumping the ball back to senior guard Trevon Hughes.
""Maybe they fell in love with the 3,"" Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said.
Thus Wisconsin put all its offensive stock on 3-point shooting, launching 18 3-point attempts in the second half and converting only five. While each make revved up the crowd and the defensive effort, each miss seemed to take more and more wind out of the crowd and slow Wisconsin's momentum.
Meanwhile on the other half of the court, McCamey began to catch fire. Three 3-pointers right before halftime, each one further and further away from the basket, proved crucial for the Fighting Illini, keeping the game close at the break.
McCamey carried that momentum into the second half to overwhelm Wisconsin's defense and secure the Illinois win.
The Badgers missed a great chance to further tighten the Big Ten race. Perhaps if Tisdale, who finished the first half 6-of-7 from the field, comes up short on those jumpers the Badgers roar out to a 20-point lead and seal the contest early. But Wisconsin could not overcome Tisdale's early efficiency and McCamey's barrage, and as a result now faces an uphill climb to the top of the conference.
