Bo Ryan has never lost to the team he once led, the Milwaukee Panthers. That all changed on Wednesday night as the Panthers came in to the Kohl Center and fought all night long to earn a 68-67 victory over the Badgers.
Guard Jordan Johnson poured in 22 points in the winning effort, while senior Matt Tiby added 15 points in the upset.
Hayes took the Badgers on his back and it led to a career high 32 points (15 in the first half). The junior forward added eight rebounds and shot 50 percent from the field (9 of 18) on the night.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the Badgers erased an 11-point halftime lead with a nearly eight-minute field goal drought in the second half to along with a hot shooting Milwaukee squad.
Not even the fourth double double from freshman Ethan Happ, who had 10 points and 15 rebounds mattered in the end.
What did matter was the Badgers’ inability to hit big free throws late and to stop Johnson from getting to the basket while it was struggling from the field in the second half.
It really was a tale of two halves for the Badgers though, because UW actually started the contest off hot — hitting five of their first seven shots to open up the game on a 13-2 run.
There was a lull in the first half following that hot shooting start, as the Badgers went 2 for 10 from the field at one point. UW combatted that with plenty of effort from the free throw line though.
UW ended the first half 11 of 13 from the charity stripe and complemented that with a 25-13 advantage on the boards.
Milwaukee cut the Badgers lead to as little as seven points following its first double digit deficit (17-7). But, following a three pointer by Matt Tiby, the Badgers went on a 6-2 mini-run and never led by under 10 points again in the first half.
UW was up 40-29 as the final horn sounded on a strange series of an attempted shot by Zak Showalter (one in which it appeared he was fouled) and a near miss from the Panthers on what was Showalter’s attempted shot turned turnover.
It didn’t last like that in the second half though, as the Panthers came out swinging and cut the UW lead to as little as four at 40-36 to start the half.
Hayes ended the 7-0 run by the Panthers and Happ pulled the Badgers back towards a double digit lead with a slam to start an 8-0 run for UW.
Milwaukee didn’t back down though, as they would answer back with their won 8-0 run to go within two points at 51-49 with under 10 minutes to play.
It was all Milwaukee at that point, and Wisconsin could do little to turn the momentum around. The Panthers took their first lead with 2:30 to play at 62-60 on a layup by Johnson.
Milwaukee stretched its lead to four points at a crucial moment, as they hit a pair of free throws to make it 68-64 with 22 seconds to play. However, the Badgers had one last ditch effort in them, as Koenig hit just the second made three pointer by the Badgers with just over 13 seconds remaining.
Wisconsin had a gift handed to them after Koenig’s triple, as J.J. Panoske dropped the inbounds pass, picked it up on the floor and rolled over. He was called for traveling with 11.2 seconds left to play.
It set up perfectly for the Badgers, who needed just a point to send this one to overtime or two to win. However, Koenig dribbled his way in to step-back three point attempt that missed and the game ended without a rebound or even a foul to give them an easier time at tying the contest.
To say it was the low-point of the season may be an understatement, but it is also the reality coming off two big wins in a row.
Bo Ryan to the team postgame: "You measure a team by what it takes to discourage them. Let's get on to next."
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) December 10, 2015
Momentum gone, but a big rivalry contest with a dangerous Marquette team awaits this Badgers squad on Saturday. Will it rebound quickly or will a loss like this linger on?
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