CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan’s tenure in Madison, the Badgers had never lost four games in a row. Until now.
With their 64-57 loss at the hands of the Fighting Illini in Champaign Saturday afternoon, the Badgers fell to 12-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten. The defeat continues Wisconsin’s conference skid, giving them four consecutive losses for the first time since 1998 when Dick Bennett coached the team.
“We are not counting the losses; we are not counting them up like that,” Wisconsin senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft said. “We are just taking it game by game right now. We just had a tough loss here to a very good team, and we missed some shots we have to make in order to win games.”
Going into Saturday’s game, the Badgers had won the last five games against the Illini, with the most recent victory coming in last year’s Big Ten Tournament championship game. However, this year’s Illini squad has only two conference losses, which came against then-No. 25 Michigan and then-No. 7 Michigan State.
In the first half, the Badgers shot poorly, connecting on just 9-of-27 or 33.3 percent from the field. They only hit two of eight 3-point attempts as well. The poor shooting percentage was caused by a stout Illinois defense, which only allowed the Badgers to shoot 35.6 percent from the field for the game.
“As I said before, with their bigs, it’s tough to get to the rim,” Ryan said. “With the perimeter defenders much more mature, with Chester (Frazier), (Demetri) McCamey — you have (Calvin) Brock coming in there and (Trent) Meacham. You have guys now that handle the tough year like last year with the idea that you have to keep believing that you are going to get better.”
To add to Wisconsin’s shooting troubles, the Badgers’ bench was called for its second technical foul in the last two games with 14:11 left in the second half. The call came after Krabbenhoft was charged with a blocking foul under the basket.
“I have no idea. I was applauding Joe Krabbenhoft for taking the charge,” Ryan said. “That was my thought, I don’t know. Maybe someone behind me said something on the bench or maybe one of the assistants stood up. I have no idea because there was no explanation.”
Leading 32-25 at the break, Illinois was able to go on a 13-5 run to take a 45-30 lead with 14:11 left in the game. During the stretch, Illinois guard Demetri McCamey accounted for five of his game-high 25 points.
With 5:58 left in the game, Wisconsin was able to pull to within seven points after Krabbenhoft hit two free throws to bring the score to 52-45. Krabbenhoft had a double-double Saturday with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Even though they had a late-game rally, the Badgers were never able to pull closer than six points, which they did with 52 seconds left in the game. While Wisconsin was unable to come back, both the team and their coaches were impressed with the late-game rally.
“It’s something we can build off of,” Krabbenhoft said. “The last couple minutes, guys were giving it their all. We have to do it for 40 minutes, though. We can’t win it in the last two minutes of the game. We have to put together a full 40 minutes, and that is what this team is looking to do.”
Other than getting 16 points from Krabbenhoft, the Badgers also got 13 points from forward Marcus Landry and 13 points from guard Trevon Hughes. Hughes also did not have a turnover after giving up nine in the last two games.
“The guys that are on the floor are the toughest guys we have,” Ryan said. “We just need to get that from the rest of the guys. Sometimes that comes with strength and experience. So, physically, we didn’t take advantage of some opportunities we had.”
The Badgers also got significant playing time off the bench from freshman guard Jordan Taylor, who saw action in a three-guard lineup with Hughes and Jason Bohannon. After hitting the 3-point shot to send the game into overtime against Iowa, Taylor played 27 minutes against Illinois and finished with four points, three assists and one steal.
“Whatever lineup is on the floor, we are trying to do what we can, trying to get a win, which is what we haven’t done in a while,” Taylor said. “Whatever lineup coach puts up there, we are just trying to mesh together as teammates, get after one another and get after the other team.”
