Bo Ryan talks about playing “Wisconsin Basketball” and tonight was a good example of that as the 25th ranked Badgers (17-5, 6-3 conf.) frustrated #16/17 Indiana down the stretch and extended their winning streak to 5 straight games after a 57-50 victory over the Hoosiers. Great defense, timely shooting, and all around effort got the job done in a game that wasn’t exactly pretty for the Badgers.
“I think it just starts with defense,” said junior Ryan Evans of the victory. “That speaks for itself. We were able to hold (Indiana) on a bad shooting night and find other ways to win the game. That’s really a momentum builder and that’s why we’ve been successful.”
With the win Wisconsin kept pace in the Big Ten race, sitting a 1/2 game back of the 3 teams at the top of the standings.
The loss was the Hoosiers 4th in their last 5 games and marked their 9th straight loss to the Badgers. It also means the Hoosiers remain winless in the Kohl Center and haven’t beaten Wisconsin in Madison since 1999.
Four Badgers finished the game in double figures with Ben Brust leading the way off the bench with 13 points. Ryan Evans had 12 points and Jordan Taylor and Mike Bruseweitz added 10 in the winning effort. Wisconsin won despite only shooting 4 of 17 from beyond the 3 point line.
Indiana (16-5, 4-5 conf.) was paced by Verdell Jones III and Christian Watford who both had 12 points for the losers.
It appeared that Wisconsin would take control of this game early on, hitting 4 of their first 6 shots to start the game, taking a 7-2 lead at the under 16 timeout. But a case of cold shooting plagued the Badgers for the rest of the half, hitting only 6 of the next 20 shots as Indiana took a 27-25 lead into the break. For the half Wisconsin shot a very weak 38.5% from the field and an even worse 25% from behind the arc.
The exact opposite was the case for the Hoosiers who were cold as ice to start the game, scoring only 2 points in the first 4 plus minutes. But after that they got hot and took their first lead of the game with just under 12 minutes to go in the half. Helping Indiana to that halftime lead was Verdell Jones III. He scored 12 points in the half as the rest of the team only added 15. For the half the Hoosiers shot 50% as a team.
Lately it’s been Jordan Taylor sparking the Wisconsin offense, but tonight it was Ben Brust, a.k.a the Madison Microwave, who gave the Badgers the shot in the arm they needed early on in the 2nd half to get the Badgers back in the game, hitting 2 straight three pointers and scoring 10 of his team high 13 points in the 2nd half.
Wisconsin used a defense that got a season best 8 blocks, 12 for 12 free throw shooting in the 2nd half, and an all around effort from Ryan Evans to take control of the game late in the 2nd half. Evans finished the game with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 block. He grabbed some key rebounds and had 10 of his 12 points in the 2nd half.
Just how good was the Badgers defense tonight? Not only did they hold the Hoosiers to their season low in points, but Indiana was held 13 points below their previous season low of 63. They also did an amazing job on Verdell Jones III, who was poised for a huge game after pouring in 12 points in the first half. He finished the game with exactly that many points, going scoreless in the 2nd half.
Credit goes to Evans with his 9 rebounds and good defense on Jones III in the 2nd half, but equally important was Jarred Berggren who had 5 blocks and was key in holding star freshman forward Cody Zeller in check. Zeller managed only 7 points on 2 of 7 shooting and was in foul trouble throughout the 2nd half, finishing with 4 fouls for the game.
The Badgers have a bit of a break here as they don’t play again until they take on Penn State next Tuesday in Happy Valley. They’ll be looking to claim the longest winning streak in conference play this year with a win.
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