Kobe King (Photo by David Stluka)
The Wisconsin Badgers saw their four-game winning streak come to an end, falling to Illinois 71-70 on Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. The Badgers 15-game winning streak against the Illini also came to an end.
Illinois (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) defeated Wisconsin for the first time since Jan. 2, 2011. The Illini won for the first time in Madison since Feb. 9, 2010.
The Illini became just the fourth Big Ten team to win a league game on the road this season, joining the Badgers, Michigan State and Rutgers. Overall, Big Ten teams are 4-25 on the road in league play.
Sophomore guard Ayo Dosunmu hit a three-pointer that put Illinois up 71-67 with 45.6 seconds left. Dosunmu led the Illini with 18 points and six assists.
Wisconsin’s Kobe King answered with a three-pointer with 22.6 seconds left to climb to within one point. Giorgi Bezhanishvili missed the front of the bonus which gave the Badgers a chance. But guard D’Mitrik Trice drove and missed a potential game winning shot and time ran out.
Trice hit just 2 of his 10 field goal attempts during the game, yet still took the final shot for the Badgers. It wasn’t exactly what Badger coach Greg Gard was looking for.
“He needed to shoot a step-back or a pull-up right there,” Gard said, “or jump-stop and draw contact. There wasn’t a foul. I saw the replay.”
The Badgers (9-6, 2-2 Big Ten) missed a chance to improve their position in the Big Ten Conference with three ranked opponents ahead. It starts with a trip to Penn State on Saturday.
Wisconsin hit 20 of 23 free throws, but made just 4 of 15 three-point attempts.
The Badgers allowed Illinois to score 43 points, shoot 61.5% overall (16 of 26) and 71.4% (5 of 7) from three point range in the second half.
Illinois with their 11th win, is now just one win short of their win total for all of last season.