The 10th ranked Wisconsin Badgers went into Mackey Arena in West Lafayette last night and the result was much the same of previous Wisconsin teams. The Badgers fell to 11th ranked Purdue 70-62, pretty much ending any hopes of taking a run at the Big Ten regular season title. Wisconsin has now fallen at Purdue in 37 of the last 39 games.
Purdue (21-5, 10-3 Big Ten) moved to within two games of first-place Ohio State and will host the Buckeyes on Sunday with a chance to close the gap even further. The Badgers (19-6, 9-4) fell three games off the lead.
JaJuan Johnson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and E’Twaun Moore scored 19 points to lead Purdue. But it was 5’9 point guard Lewis Jackson, who scored 1 point in the first match-up in Madison on February 1st, scored 18 points and dished out five assists for the Boilermakers last night.
Jon Leuer scored 23 points and Jordan Taylor added 15 for the Badgers.
AUDIO: Bo Ryan on his teams mindset the rest of the way :21
Wisconsin made a run at the Boilermakers in the second half. Trailing by 13, Bo Ryan’s team closed the gap to 2-points and Ryan said he thought they were going to take it over the top.
AUDIO: Bo Ryan thought his team would pull it out :18
Wisconsin returns home to host Penn State on Sunday at the Kohl Center.