Growing up in Marion, Iowa, Jordan Bohannon was a Badgers fan. Over the years, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ freshman point guard had been to the Kohl Center to watch two of his older brothers, both former Wisconsin basketball players, play more times than he can count.
Thursday night in No. 22 Wisconsin’s (11-6 Big Ten, 22-8 overall) 59-57 loss to Iowa (9-8, 17-13), Bohannon silenced the same Wisconsin crowd he’s heard roar so many times before. A 3-pointer from his fingertips with just nine seconds to go gave the Hawkeyes a two-point lead. Seconds later, he hugged his teammates in euphoria as the team he used to root floor walked off the court, dejected.
The Badgers have now last five of their last six games, and with their final home game less than 72 hours away, UW is still looking for its elusive 12th conference win which would clinch a double-bye in next week’s Big Ten Tournament.
Senior forward Nigel Hayes turned the ball over twice in the final 2:39, allowing Iowa to close the game on a 7-0 run.
He likened the Badgers’ feelings to the sunken place from the recently released movie Get Out.
“That’s kind of us right now,” Hayes said. “And we’re trying to crawl out of it.”
The senior forward who, for four years at Wisconsin, has been known for his charisma, loquaciousness, and humor, didn’t need many words to sum up what he needs to improve on moving forward.
“Just do more,” Hayes said. “Shoot more, be more, do more, teach more. Whatever I’m doing, just do it more.”
But Hayes was not the only culprit in UW’s late-game collapse. Head coach Greg Gard said UW didn’t cut hard enough to the basketball on its late-game inbound plays. Gard also can’t control redshirt sophomore Ethan Happ missing six of his seven free throw attempts, including two with 29 seconds to play that would have given the Badgers a three-point lead.
Gard could only watch as Hayes mistimed his jump for a rebound after Iowa’s Peter Jok missed a jumper with 15 seconds to play.
But the Badgers have flown close to the sun for weeks now. Their offense isn’t efficient enough for them to miss free throws, turn the ball over and fail to rebound the basketball in late-game situations.
“We walk such a fine line and we have all year that the details, whether it be turnovers at inopportune times or a simple defensive rebound in the last possession, make the big difference,” Gard said.
Within seconds of Bohannon’s 3-pointer, the tenor of the Kohl Center changed. As Koenig’s jumper came up short, Gard tried to get his team to foul, but in chaos of the moment, no foul was called. Bohannon rushed over to his teammates in almost the same spot where he made the three seconds earlier.
Wisconsin redshirt senior guard Zak Showalter’s hands feel to his knees as he bent over in disbelief. Happ walked to the handshake line with his hands on his head, reminiscent of his walk to the bench after picking up his fifth foul in Wisconsin’s Sweet 16 loss to Notre Dame in Philadelphia last March.
Like last March, Koenig missed his final field-goal attempt. While the senior guard scored a game-high 19 points and Showalter and Hayes pitched in 11 and 10 points, respectively, the result was the same: a surefire victory quickly became a crushing defeat.
Senior day is Sunday afternoon. It won’t be long before Hayes, Koenig, Showalter and forward Vitto Brown play their last home game.
No help is walking into the Badgers’ locker room, and Hayes is well aware that the clock is ticking on his senior class.
The Badgers are running out of time to escape from their sunken place.
“Time is winding down,” Hayes said, “and we’re trying to find ourselves again and get back to what we were doing so well.”
