Wisconsin (4-2 Big Ten, 13-6 overall) shot 7-of-18 from the free throw line, including 0-of-5 in the final five minutes, en route to a 49-47 loss to No. 13 Michigan State (6-1, 17-3) Tuesday at the Kohl Center.
Trailing by two with 10.2 seconds remaining, redshirt freshman guard George Marshall was fouled driving to the basket by Michigan State junior center Adreian Payne. However, Marshall missed both shots (the second of which was intentional) and the Spartans held on, vaulting atop the conference standings with the road victory.
Although Marshall could have potentially sent the game into overtime, his teammates stressed that his missed free throws weren’t the reason Wisconsin lost.
“As a young guy you’ve gotta learn that that’s a very important play,” senior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “But there was an exponential number of plays prior to that that put us in that position. We can’t blame it all on one play.”
The Badgers are shooting 61 percent from the line this season, including 52 percent in Big Ten play.
“I can’t shoot ‘em,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “We’ve got guys who are pretty good free throw shooters who aren’t making free throws.”
“It’s cost us games before, and obviously it cost us today,” Bruesewitz added.
Bruesewitz scored with just under eight minutes to play, putting back in his own tip-in attempt to bring Wisconsin within two. The Badgers’ next field goal didn’t come until redshirt senior forward Ryan Evans drained a three with 17 seconds remaining. As cold as UW was from the field down that stretch (0-of-7), it also missed four of its five free throws, including the front end of a one-and-one.
The Badgers did not only struggle from the free throw line. Wisconsin shot 29.6 percent from the field, with half of their 54 shots coming from beyond the arc.
Redshirt senior forward Jared Berggren said UW might have settled for too many outside looks, even though the looks were there. The Princeton, Minn., native said he got a good number of touches down low, but he frequently passed the ball back to the perimeter after Michigan State brought more pressure inside.
“There’s more opportunity for a shot fake, a drive—get the ball inside a little bit more,” Berggren said. “We’ve got to try getting some easier looks, higher percentage shots.”
Despite its shooting struggles, Wisconsin was stout defensively—a team has to be if it shoots worse than 30 percent and still wants a chance to win.
“I thought defensively we were working our butts off,” Ryan said. “That’s a good scoring team.”
The Spartans didn’t shoot much better than UW, making 38 percent of their field goal attempts. Michigan State senior guard Keith Appling, the team’s leading scorer and a 43 percent shooter, shot 6-of-17 from the floor. Appling finished with a game-high 19 points.
Although the Badgers kept themselves in the game with their effort on the defensive end, Ryan noted they played out of character in fouling Appling three times on jump shots. Sophomore guard Traevon Jackson picked up the personal on each of the three occasions.
“That doesn’t happen here,” Ryan said. “I don’t mean here—it doesn’t happen to our teams. That might be more fouling a jump shooter than we get in a season, in one game.”
Freshman forward Sam Dekker scored 3 points on 1-of-2 shooting, limited to only 13 minutes of playing time in large part because he picked up two fouls in three minutes of action in the first half, forcing Ryan to keep him on the bench until the second half.
The loss was the Badgers’ second straight, which currently puts them in a tie for fourth in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin will look to halt its two-game skid Saturday when Border Battle rival Minnesota comes to Madison.
