Indiana Suffers First Conference Loss At Wisconsin

Tuesday, January 26

Madison, WI

7:00 PM

Indiana University

17-4, 7-1

Wisconsin

12-9, 4-4

OT 1

Indiana

Wisconsin

Indiana Suffers First Conference Loss At Wisconsin

1/26/2016 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By Sam Beishuizen, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana's Big Ten unbeaten streak came to an end in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Badgers defeated the No. 19 Hoosiers 82-79 in overtime at the Kohl Center, snapping IU's 12-game winning streak that dated back to the first week of last December.

"There were too many mistakes made for us to win the game," head coach Tom Crean said. "When you're on the road, you've got to really be able to put it away."

Wisconsin did the bulk of its work through Nigel Hayes with the game on the line. The junior forward finished with a game-high 31 points and was active on both ends of the floor late in regulation and in overtime.

He hit two free throws to tie the game at 71 with about nine seconds remaining in regulation and proceeded to somehow avoid fouling Indiana senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell as he drove into the lane and was unable to convert what would have been a game-winning layup just before time expired.

The Badgers continued to work the ball through Hayes in overtime as he scored six points—all at the line—and grabbed three rebounds, including back-to-back offensive rebounds on the first possession.
Hayes finished the game scoring 15 of Wisconsin's final 25 points.

"Sometimes we just got Nigel the ball and got out of the way," Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said. "That was the play call."

Indiana attempted just 16 treys and made seven of them after averaging 32 3-point tries per game between wins over Northwestern and Illinois. Ferrell accounted for five of IU's 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 30 points, tying his career high against a Big Ten opponent.

Time after time, Ferrell had an answer in the second half, where he scored 14 of his 30 points. He was 6-of-7 shooting in that stretch with the lone miss coming at the buzzer after scoring five points in the final 73 seconds to put his team in a position to win in the first place.

"Just a bucket, that's all we needed," Ferrell said. "I had a good look at it. I probably should have put more on it if I had the chance."

Crean said it would be difficult for any team to win when the free-throw differential was 19, as it was in favor of Wisconsin, and turnovers were frequent. The Badgers (12-9, 4-4) made 10 more free throws (28) than the Hoosiers (17-4, 7-1) attempted (18) and turned 19 Indiana turnovers into 21 points.

Crean called the free-throw differential a "headscratcher" and said the Hoosiers needed to do a better job of initiating contact and avoiding it defensively.

Hayes and redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ were the catalysts for Wisconsin's advantage at the charity stripe, combining to shoot 17-of-27. Happ complemented Hayes' breakout game with 25 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks in a career day of his own.

"It's not easy to be in a game like this and lose the free-throw differential by 19 and only lose the game by three," Crean said. "But we had too many turnovers and we gave them a few too many easy buckets."

Tuesday's loss puts Indiana in relatively unfamiliar territory heading into Saturday's matchup against Minnesota at Assembly Hall.

For the first time in just under two months, the Hoosiers are going to be tasked with responding to defeat in order to maintain their place near the top of the Big Ten standings. The loss preceding Tuesday's was followed with 12 consecutive wins, but the conference schedule doesn't do teams many favors.

Not that Crean needs reminding.

"It's a resilient group and we've got to keep building on that," Crean said. "We're going to keep getting a lot better. I know we can, I believe we will, and so do they. There's a lot of things for us to learn from this game."