Traevon Jackson
The 4th ranked Wisconsin Badgers played without their All-American center Frank Kaminsky, who was out with a concussion. They lost guard Traevon Jackson early in the second half with a right ankle injury last night and went on to lose to Rutgers 67-62 in Big Ten play in Piscataway, New Jersey.
The Badgers had a 12-point lead at halftime, then allowed the Scarlet Knights to shoot 66.7% from the field in the second half to pull out the win.
Without Kaminsky and Jackson, the Badgers offense struggled for much of the second half too. Sophomore guard Bronson Koenig hit a jumper to give the Badgers a 53-50 lead with 8:41 left to play. The Badgers didn’t score again until the 2:57 mark on a pair of Zak Showalter free throws.
The Badgers hit just 9 of 24 from the field in the second half and just 5 of 21 three pointers for the game.
Nigel Hayes and Sam Dekker had 15 points each to lead the Badgers in scoring. The loss drops them into a tie with Michigan, Michigan State and Maryland in the Big Ten Conference, all with 3-1 conference records.
The Badgers return home to host Nebraska on Thursday night at the Kohl Center. They’re not sure if they’ll have either Kaminsky or Jackson for that contest.
AUDIO: Asst. Greg Gard says Rutgers gained confidence as the game went along :13
AUDIO: Greg Gard says not having Frank Kaminsky didn’t help :17