On a night where early foul trouble kept a couple of key players sidelined, the Badgers needed someone to step up from the bench and make a major impact.
Luckily for them, Khalil Iverson was ready to answer the call.
The freshman scored a career-high 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting and added five rebounds, two assists, a block and an assist to help power Wisconsin (5-4 Big Ten, 13-9 overall) past Illinois (2-7, 10-12) 63-55 for its fourth consecutive victory.
Iverson’s contributions were especially pivotal in the first half, where redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ and junior guard Bronson Koenig both sat out a significant portion of the half after picking up two fouls apiece.
Despite losing two starters to foul trouble and trailing 18-10 midway through the first half, Iverson and Co. picked up the slack, finishing the half on a 23-10 run to take a five-point lead into the locker room.
The second half was more of the same for Wisconsin.
Though the Illini were able to cut the deficit to three early in the half, the Badgers kept them at bay and their lead was never really seriously threatened down the stretch. After attempting zero free throws in the first 30:35 of the game, Wisconsin got to the line consistently over the final 9:25. The Badgers sunk 17 of their 20 free throws, allowing them to endure an 8:04 stretch without a field goal and not allowing Illinois to get within striking distance.
Iverson made all four of his free-throw attempts after coming into the night 7-of-12 from the charity stripe this season. In total, Wisconsin was +14 when the freshman was on the floor. Iverson saw 30 minutes of game action Sunday night after playing for just a total of 29 minutes over the previous five contests. He was the spark that the team desperately needed after a slow start.
Once they got rolling, the Badgers found plenty of success inside the arc. UW shot 44 percent from the field despite going an abysmal 2-of-14 from 3-point range. Illinois, on the other hand, only shot 36 percent from the floor, including a 32 percent mark in the second half.
Junior guards Malcolm Hill and Kendrick Nunn combined to score 37 points, but no other Illini player scored more than seven. For the Badgers, junior forward Nigel Hayes led the team with 17 points and Koenig added 11. An upper-body injury kept Vitto Brown out of the starting lineup for the first time all season, but the junior forward scored nine points off the bench.
The win was Wisconsin’s ninth straight against Illinois and marked the Badgers fourth consecutive victory in Champaign, the first time they’ve accomplished that feat in a series that dates all the way back to 1906.
The Badgers will return home to Madison for their next game Thursday against the Ohio State Buckeyes, where they’ll look to push their winning streak to five. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
