Coming out of the under-16 media timeout at the 15:46 minute mark of the first half, the Rolling Stone’s hit song “Start Me Up” blared over the loudspeaker. The Badgers trailed 14-1 at the time; perhaps they were in need of some reminding that the game had begun nearly five minutes earlier.
Wisconsin (3-8 Big Ten, 10-14 overall) dug itself an early 17-point deficit just over six minutes into its 60-52 loss to Northwestern (5-6, 14-10). It chipped away at the Wildcats’ lead throughout the night, bringing the game as close as six after its early deficit. But, to echo another Rolling Stone’s hit, no matter how hard UW tried, it couldn’t get no satisfaction.
Junior forward Khalil Iverson led the Badgers with 15 points, but Wisconsin struggled to break down Northwestern’s 2-3 zone and, as a result, was stifled from both the field and from the three. Arguably the loudest cheer of the night came with 13:55 to go in the first half when redshirt junior forward Ethan Happ pulled down only NU’s second missed field goal of the night at that point in the game.
After trailing by only nine points with 2:47 to go in the first half, UW failed to score for the remainder of the period. On numerous occasions early in the second half, the Badgers again had opportunities to cut NU’s lead to within five points, but it came up short on multiple offensive possessions and allowed the Wildcats to convert on the other end of the floor.
Wisconsin trailed by eight points with just over eight minutes to play in the game, but a jumper by NU’s Gavin Skelly gave it a 10-point cushion.
After a three-minute stretch in which both teams traded primarily turnovers and missed baskets, Happ made a layup to cut Northwestern’s lead back to nine. But practically every time Wisconsin pushed the Wildcats, NU answered.
Redshirt freshman forward Aleem Ford nailed his fourth triple of the night with 1:21 to go in the game to slash the deficit to six, but Wisconsin wouldn’t come any closer.
Only four Badgers scored on the night and redshirt sophomore guard Brevin Pritzl’s 0-for-11 performance was the worst shooting performance by a Wisconsin player since at least 2010-’11. Happ added 14 points and Davison chipped in 11, but UW came up short for the seventh time in its last eight tries.
Check back later at Daily Cardinal.com/section/sports for complete coverage of UW’s defeat.
