Wisconsin Basketball: Purdue Hands Badgers 91-80 Loss in Regular Season Finale

The Wisconsin basketball team closed the regular season with a loss at Purdue

A combination of hot perimeter shooting and a trio of bigs in the paint were too much for the Wisconsin basketball team Sunday night as the Purdue Boilermakers earned a 91-80 win over the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten regular season finale.

The Badgers and Boilermakers each shot lights-out in the first half, but Purdue’s size wore on Wisconsin in the second half as the trio of A.J. Hammons, Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas pounded the Badgers in the post.

While Ethan Happ put up a strong fight in the first half and the early going in the second, he tired down the stretch following possession after possession of Purdue bigs going to work in the paint.

Adding to the strong play in the post, Purdue shot well the entire game, answering every Wisconsin push on the night.

Nigel Hayes led all scorers with 30 points in the game, adding eight rebounds and three assists. Ethan Happ had 14 points and five rebounds, Zak Showalter added 13 points, and Vitto Brown scored nine points, all in the first half.

Bronson Koenig scored eight points and Jordan Hill knocked down a pair of threes for the Badgers only points off of the bench.

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Caleb Swanigan paced the Boilermakers with 27 points and eight rebounds. P.J. Thompson scored 22 points, and A.J. Hammons dropped 16 points and eight rebounds.

Purdue shot 62.2 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from three-point range, knocking down 10 of 19 attempts from deep. The Badgers shot 43.3 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from three-point range.

But it was Purdue sophomore Thompson who stole the show in the first half. He came into the game averaging just over five points per game on the season, but knocked down five threes in the first half alone.

Hammons and fellow center Haas did some work of their own in the first half, as Hammons scored 11 and Haas added four as the seven-footers controlled the paint.After being owned by Hammons in the first matchup between these two teams, Happ came out firing Sunday night, going right at Hammons for eight points in the first half alone.

Brown and Hayes kept the Badgers in it in the first half, as Hayes led the Badgers with 12 first-half points and Brown knocked down three treys. Wisconsin went into the break trailing 45-39.

While the first half belonged to Thomas, the second belonged to Caleb Swanigan, who scored 23 points in the final 20 minutes after recording just four points in the first half.

Swanigan and the rest of the Boilermakers continued their hot shooting in the second half while the Badgers struggled more, but Wisconsin continued to hang around, keeping the deficit around 10 points for most of the half.

The Badgers crawled within seven points with about four minutes to play. Purdue pushed the lead back to 12 points before a Hayes and-one made it an eight-point game at 80-72 with under three to play.

Wisconsin wouldn’t get any closer, and was forced to foul down the stretch as Purdue closed out the 91-80 win.

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The Badgers will have the six-seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, and will take the court on Thursday against the winner of Nebraska and Rutgers (11-14 matchup). The winner will take on three-seed Maryland.

Purdue clinched the four-seed with the win, and will have a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.

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