Thoughts about an 80-73 loss in the OT double to the Badgers:
Indiana, playing without his best perimeter gunner at Armaan Franklin, gave Wisconsin absolutely everything he could endure tonight in Madison. This game was there to be played. At the end of the regulation, Trayce Jackson-Davis took a good look at the left side of the rim that could have been the winner of the game, but did not fall. And in the first overtime, Indiana had the ball with seven seconds left and the game drew, only for Al Durham Jr. to lose possession on a high ball with Brad Davison, which ended up taking the game to a second overtime.
From there, in a game that had been so fierce, with neither team leading by more than three points in the last five minutes of regulation and in the first overtime, Wisconsin was able to open the scoring with two points from Tyler Wahl. This sank the Hoosiers forever.
Things seemed unstable when the Hoosiers fell 23-11, with 6:48 to go until the end of the first half. But Indiana closed the interval with a 13-6 run to lose a respectable five points (29-24) in the interval. Anthony Leal, in his best match as Hoosier, dropped two 3-point ends on that stretch to propel the Hoosiers. Despite all his offensive problems to start this one, Indiana gave Wisconsin defensively problems. It was one of the top 10 at the national level, with 0.94 points for possession and seemed to take the Badgers out of their comfort zone in attacking the swing with many exchanges.
Indiana really changed things offensively in the second half – which seems to be a theme at this point in the season – when she met Trayce Jackson-Davis in space. As we’ve seen so many times this season, Jackson-Davis was unstoppable for a second-half stretch and the Badgers had no answers. The Center Grove product scored 16 points out of 7 out of 10 shots in the second half. Indiana was also able to get contributions from its veteran guards again, with Al Durham and Rob Phinisee scoring seven points in the second half. Jerome Hunter contributed five of his own, including a big dunk with 41 seconds left to place the Hoosiers 61-59.
But D’mitrik Trice (21 points) got a bucket on the other side to tie him up, one of the many difficult attempts he made for Wisconsin when it mattered, and we know how it went from there. Let’s take the hat off to Trice tonight. Big buckets were his thing.
It is a loss that hurts. But this was a great and courageous performance by the Hoosiers against one of the best teams in the country – and perhaps the best team in the Big Ten. It was there to be obtained. It just didn’t happen. There are many other challenges facing teams that are close to the Wisconsin level – Michigan, Iowa, Illinois again. If the Hoosiers manage to raise their game to this level and do it consistently, they will certainly have something to make their way against a better team during this exhausting Big Ten season.
Filed for: Wisconsin Badgers