How big was last night’s 75-72 Indiana victory over the 3rd ranked Wisconsin
Traevon Jackson
Badgers? Big enough for Hoosier fans to storm the court in celebration once the clock struck zero.
The wild celebration came after the Hoosiers ended their 12-game losing streak against the Badgers, including 5-straight losses at Assembly Hall.
The Badgers didn’t lose because of their offense. They shot 53% from the field. Wisconsin lost because they played their worst defense in recent memory.
Indiana took the ball to the hole all night. 52 of their 75 points came in the paint. Assistant coach Gary Close said their help defense was a step slow. That is being awfully generous. Wisconsin’s help defense was non-existent.
The Badgers have had players in foul trouble in recent games and it looked like a number of players didn’t want to get into trouble last night, so they simply didn’t offer up any help defensively.
The Badgers had limited its last 10 opponents to no better than 43.1% shooting. But Indiana hit 51.6% (32 of 62) of their field goals.
Traevon Jackson had career high 21 points to lead the Badgers. Yogi Ferrell had 25 to lead the Hoosiers.
It’s the first loss of the season for the Badgers (16-1, 3-1 Big Ten). The Badgers will host Michigan on Saturday at the Kohl Center.
Wisconsin will get the chance to settle the score when Indiana (12-5, 2-2) returns to Madison on Tuesday, Feb. 25th.