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Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers Cannot Overcome Offensive Droughts in Loss

By Erik Buchinger

Jan 5, 2016; Bloomington, IN, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Bronson Koenig (24) dribbles the ball and is guarded by Indiana Hoosiers guard Yogi Ferrell (11) in the second half of the game at Assembly Hall. The Indiana Hoosiers beat the Wisconsin Badgers by the score of 59-58. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 5, 2016; Bloomington, IN, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Bronson Koenig (24) dribbles the ball and is guarded by Indiana Hoosiers guard Yogi Ferrell (11) in the second half of the game at Assembly Hall. The Indiana Hoosiers beat the Wisconsin Badgers by the score of 59-58. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Wisconsin basketball team fell to the Indiana Hoosiers

The Wisconsin Badgers suffered through two long shooting droughts in a 59-58 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall in Bloomington on Tuesday night.

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The Badgers had two stretches in which they did not make a field goal for nearly eight minutes as they fell to 9-7 on the season and 1-2 in the Big Ten.

Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig led Wisconsin with 15 points but neither shot the ball well, as the Badgers’ two best players shot a combined for 7-for-25 from the floor. Hayes shot 3-for-13, and Koenig finished 4-for-12 from the field.

Offensive inconsistency has been an issue for Wisconsin, who shot 36 percent in the second half and 41.3 percent for the game. The Badgers shot 4-for-16 from 3-point range and 16-for-23 from the free-throw line.

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    • Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell finished with a game-high 19 points and scored the final eight points for Indiana, who extended its winning streak to eight games and improved to 13-3 overall and 3-0 in Big Ten play.

    With the game tied at 53, Ferrell knocked down a jumper to give the Hoosiers a two-point lead. Ethan Happ turned the ball over for the Badgers, which led to two free throws for Ferrell, who made them both. Happ’s put back with five seconds left cut the lead back to two, but Ferrell made two more free throws before Hayes made a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

    Indiana came in as the top scoring offense in the Big Ten and ranked No. 6 in the country with 87.7 points per game, but the Badgers held the Hoosiers to a season-low 59. Wisconsin forced 19 turnovers, which led to 24 points for the Badgers.

    Each team had an extended scoring drought in the first half. O.G. Anunoby’s 3-pointer gave Indiana a 13-7 lead with 13:48 remaining before halftime, but the Hoosiers went scoreless for the next 6 1/2 minutes before an alley-oop dunk from Robert Johnson to Thomas Bryant. During the scoreless streak, Indiana missed six shots and turned the ball over four times.

    Wisconsin took advantage and went on a 15-0 run to take a 22-13 lead with 7:58 left before the Badgers’ offense hit a dry spell. Wisconsin did not make a field goal until there was two seconds left in the half when Jordan Hill knocked down an open 3-pointer to give the Badgers a 28-24 halftime lead.

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    The second half ended similarly to how the first half ended. Wisconsin made just 2 of its first 14 shot attempts after halftime, including zero field goals for seven minutes, 59 seconds. By that time, the Badgers went behind 40-34 following back-to-back threes from Indiana, and Wisconsin never led the rest of the game.

    Happ finished with 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds, and Hill scored seven points off the bench. In an interesting side note from the game, freshman Charlie Thomas, who had appeared in all 15 games coming in but has seen his minutes decrease since Greg Gard stepped in, did not see the floor in a game that sophomore walk-on Aaron Moesch played three minutes for Wisconsin.

    The Badgers have now lost four games by two or more points. For the Badgers to make the NCAA tournament for the 18th consecutive season, they need to win games they are not supposed to win. Wisconsin came close against Purdue and again tonight but just did not have enough to pull off an upset.

    The Wisconsin basketball team will have another chance at an upset win as it hosts the third-ranked Maryland Terrapins on Saturday at noon in the Kohl Center.

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    Stay tuned to Badger of Honor for more on the Wisconsin basketball team.

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