The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team (12-9, 5-5 Big Ten) traveled to Iowa City Monday night to take on the No. 18 Iowa Hawkeyes (15-5, 6-3). After a long and gritty classic Big Ten game that was neck and neck throughout, the Badgers ended up falling to the Hawkeyes with a score of 62–68.  

The Badgers held a 12 point lead with 7:13 left to play in the game. Despite this, a raucous crowd in Iowa City along with some stingy defense by the Hawkeyes led to offensive struggles by the Badgers. They only managed to convert two total field goals and five total points in the final 7:13 of the game.

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Luka Garza played a major role in erasing the late-game 12-point deficit the Hawkeyes were facing as he led Iowa with 21 points and an astounding 18 rebounds. Freshman guard CJ Fredrick also poured in an impressive 17 points to compliment Garza. 

The majority of Iowa’s production came from the starting lineup, as they had four players scoring in double figures. They only saw four points from their entire bench which shot a combined one-for-nine from the field. 

Iowa went on a 17–2 scoring run in just over a six-minute stretch that helped give them the lead at 62–59 with 32 seconds left to play in the game. Wisconsin called a timeout to draw up a play to try to tie the game.  

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During the timeout, the referee crew went to the monitor and called a technical foul on Brad Davison for grabbing the leg of the offensive player who was setting a screen on the previous play. The refs awarded Iowa two free throws and the ball — sealing the game away for the Hawkeyes. 

Kobe King did not travel with the team to Iowa for personal reasons that are undisclosed. King is averaging 10 points per game this season and is the Badgers’ second-best scorer. Despite his productive contributions all season, King went scoreless in his last outing against Purdue. 

In King’s absence, true freshman Tyler Wahl was able to get his first career start. Wahl finished the night with four points and seven rebounds in his 26 minutes on the court.  

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D’Mitrik Trice played a phenomenal game for the Badgers as he led the team with 16 points while shooting 50% from the field. He also grabbed nine rebounds and fired off six assists in his 37 minutes of action.  

Wisconsin is now 12-9 on the season and 5-5 in conference play. Despite being unranked with nine losses, they are still in tournament contention due to their five quadrant one wins. The Badgers are now on a two-game losing streak. They will have four days to regroup before taking on Michigan State Saturday at the Kohl Center.