Wisconsin men's basketball is no longer unbeatable in Madison having lost three at home this season. Thursday night, however, the Kohl Center remained a house of horrors for Indiana as the No. 25 Badgers (6-3 Big Ten, 17-5 overall) knocked off the No. 17 Hoosiers (4-5, 16-5) 57-50.
While UW had a tough time getting anything going offensively throughout much of the game, it kept itself within striking distance by holding an Indiana team that had been averaging just under 80 points per game to a season-low 50. First and foremost, the Badgers stifled the post game of freshman center Cody Zeller, holding the Washington, Ind. native to just seven points on 2-of-7 shooting.
Zeller picked up his fourth foul with 5:21 left in the game, a foul that marked the beginning of a 12-4 UW run to close out the game.
"Jared [Berggren] did a great job on Zeller," senior guard Jordan Taylor said. "Zeller is one of the best players in the country and what he did on him was impressive."
Not only did the Badgers have to beat one of the top-20 teams in the country Thursday, in many respects they had to beat themselves. Wisconsin struggled to get good shots to fall down, finishing the game just under 40 percent from the field and a measly 23.5 percent from three-point range. What made up for the lack of shots was the Badgers' ability to get to the line and rebound in the 2nd half, finishing the game 15-of-19 from the line after making their final 13..
"The free throws were obviously a byproduct of the rebounds," junior forward Ryan Evans said. "That's real encouraging, when you can find a way to win on an awful shooting night."
As it did last Sunday at Illinois, Wisconsin made the big plays seemingly each and every time the opportunity presented itself. Clinging to just a one-point lead with two minutes left, the Badgers grabbed two big offensive rebounds to ultimately get themselves to the line with a minute remaining. After Evans picked up two of his 12 second-half points at the line and Zeller missed with a jump hook, the Badgers had control of the game and the opportunity to ice it after yet another offensive rebound, this time by junior forward Mike Bruesewitz.
"They were big, every single one of them," Taylor said of the Badgers' hustle plays. "Mike and Ryan had two massive rebounds at the end there."
Sophomore guard Ben Brust was back on his game as well. After being largely silent in the 1st half, he woke the crowd with 10 second-half points and one huge offensive rebound, leaping into the air to grab a jump ball that had bounced off the floor after a missed jumper. His 3-for-6 shooting from three-point range gave UW a boost it desperately needed on a night when scoring was hard to come by.
"As long as he is on the same side of the court we are on, I would say he has that [green light]," head coach Bo Ryan said. "When his shoulders are squared and his feet are set, he tends to shoot the ball a lot better."
In a season now seemingly defined by gritty efforts, this win was perhaps the scrappiest of the 17 that Wisconsin has managed to pick up so far this season.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy, we just had to scrap to the end," Berggren said. "When shots aren't falling down, you have to battle defensively."
Now within one half-game of the conference lead, the Badgers hit the road for a midweek game against Penn State. Although a marquee matchup in Madison against Ohio State looms on the horizon, the Badgers are focused squarely on the present, fully aware of what got them to this point after being left for dead just a few weeks ago.
"We knew we had guys that weren't going to give up easily," Taylor said. "But every game is huge in the Big Ten and hopefully we can just keep it rolling."
