CHICAGO — The problem for Wisconsin isn’t talent, it’s consistency. A bevy of different players have contributed scoring this season, and yet Wisconsin’s offense sometimes still resembles a game of musical chairs more than a steady system.
Playing its third game in as many days, Nebraska may have been expected to tire out against the well-rested Badgers on Friday. Instead, with their fumes low and their bench shallow, the Cornhuskers ran on pure adrenaline.
In its final contest of the regular season, 21st-ranked Wisconsin basketball (14-6 Big Ten, 22-9 overall) beat Ohio State (8-12, 18-13) 73-67 in overtime Sunday at the Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
It wasn’t the prettiest send-off, but it’ll certainly do.
Ethan Happ has seen quite a bit at Wisconsin.
Before the Bo Ryan era, the 16 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the establishment of Wisconsin as a basketball institution — Stu Jackson threw a whistle.
For Wisconsin’s men’s basketball team (11-6 Big Ten, 19-9 overall), Tuesday’s game was a must-win in the race for a top-four conference finish. Against a hungry Indiana Hoosiers team (5-12 Big Ten, 14-14 overall) that had won only one game since January, the No. 19 Badgers fell short, 75-73 in double overtime.
After Wisconsin’s defeat of Illinois on Monday, you may have credited Brad Davison’s 18 points or Khalil Iverson’s season-high 16 for the victory. You wouldn’t have been wrong, but you’d be overlooking Brevin Pritzl.
After a first half that featured hordes of missed jumpers and a stagnant offense, the No. 22 Badgers (10-5 Big Ten, 18-8 overall) entered the second half with basketball’s most efficient shot.
With six minutes and two seconds remaining in the second half on Tuesday, senior big man Ethan Happ scored his 2000th point as a Badger, joining rare company and bringing No. 20 Wisconsin within one point at 56-55. It wasn’t a harbinger of things to come.
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