With an 86-80 loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign, Illinois on Tuesday night, No. 20 Wisconsin has now lost three straight games.
After starting the season with eight straight wins, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team finds itself on a streak of a different kind.
In front of a jam-packed State Farm Center, Wisconsin battled hard but couldn't quite get over the hump, falling to 8-3 and 0-2 in conference play for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The loss marks nine straight to Illinois.
Throughout the night, Wisconsin’s defense was unable to contain Illinois’ frontcourt trio of Kasparas Jakucionis, Tre White and Kylan Boswell. Freshman guard Jakucionis was the star of the night, leading the Illini with a career-high 24 points on 8-15 shooting with 4-8 from three alongside six assists and five rebounds. White contributed 23 points, shooting 8-15 and putting in nine points from the line, while Boswell added 19 points and six assists. Together they scored 66 of Illinois’ 86 points.
Wisconsin’s defensive Achilles’ heel came from its inability to close out defensive rebounds. The Badgers allowed Illinois 16 offensive rebounds, which the Illini capitalized on with 15 second-half points. Altogether, the Illini out-rebounded Wisconsin 40-29.
Offensively, the Badgers were led by forward Nolan Winter, whose aggressiveness led him to 15 points on 5-11 shooting while snatching seven rebounds. Winter guided Wisconsin’s offensive to begin the second half, almost single-handedly keeping the game close. He scored eight of the Badgers’ first 10 second-half points and accounted for the team’s only field goals in an over six-minute stretch.
“He’s a really good player, and I think he’s just scratching the surface of where he can be,” head coach Greg Gard said of Winter after the game. Gard went on to praise his aggressiveness and willingness to score in multiple ways, including from three, where Winter hit twice in seven tries.
Meanwhile, Gard couldn’t offer the same praise for his other forward, seven-footer Steven Crowl, who finished with nine points but no rebounds in only 19 minutes.
“How do you have no rebounds?” Gard questioned in the post game
Guard John Tonje added an inefficient 15 points on 15 shots, with four rebounds and three assists, while guard Max Klesmit added 13 points on 4-10 shooting.
In a close first half, Wisconsin was disadvantaged by foul troubles from three starters — John Blackwell, Klesmit and Crowl — forcing Gard to look to his bench, where he received contributions from Kamari McGee, Carter Gilmore, Xavier Amos and Jack Janicki. Despite such heavy first-half bench minutes, Wisconsin was able to stay in the game, going into the half trailing 39-35.
In the second half, Wisconsin reached the bonus quickly, with 14:42 remaining. But with such offensive leverage, the Badgers seemingly forgot they had to score from places other than the free-throw line. From 16:32 left in the game to 11:08 left, Wisconsin didn’t convert a field goal, allowing the game to turn from a tie into a 10-point Illinois advantage.
The Badgers kept battling, and with 8:42 left in the game, Wisconsin was within four points. Again, Illinois stretched its lead to 10. but Wisconsin continued to fight. With 2:51 remaining, a Winter three-pointer made the game 74-70.
But for the Badgers, a White tip-in and costly Klesmit three-point foul ultimately did them in. While Wisconsin kept the game interesting until the final seconds, Illinois remained in control for the remainder of the game.
