CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Welcome to Illinois basketball. Fast breaks, ally-oops, slam dunks, clutch shots, and a sea of orange as far as the eye can see.
Now welcome to Wisconsin basketball. Turnovers, missed shots, missed free throws, and falling for fake shot-clock counts.
When these two teams faced off earlier this month, everything seemed to go the Badgers’ way. UW was able to turn a five-point halftime deficit into a 72-66 victory. This time around was a whole other story.
Even though the Kohl Center can hold its own when it comes to fan interaction, it is nothing like the fans of Assembly Hall. The students stand around both ends of the basket and to the sides of the player benches. The floor shakes as the students jump up and down during the opening tip-off, letting the opponents know exactly on whose floor they are playing.
Unfortunately for the Badgers, the kind of basketball they came to Champaign to play was not what they expected. The upperclassmen leaders were contained, and the duo of freshman Devin Harris and sophomore Freddie Owens stepped in. As the first half expired, the Illini had made eight three-pointers — those points alone outscored the entire Wisconsin effort. Led by Cory Bradford, the Illini went on a 15-2 run in the final four minutes. Bradford had 10 of those points while Charlie Wills notched the only two points for UW.
A replay of the matchup in Madison was not to be seen, as a second-half turnaround for the Badgers was squashed. UW shot only 28 percent from the field on 7-25 shooting and had poor shooting efforts from both Travon Davis and Kirk Penney. Both were held scoreless in the second half.
While both the players and coaches will attribute the loss to poor shooting from the Wisconsin end and converting on excellent chances on the Illinois end, neither can deny the impact the sixth-man played in this game. Normally, a sixth-man comes in the form of a player off the bench, but the Illini looked to multiple people to handle the task
Starting it off for the Illini was senior forward Lucas Johnson. After tearing his ACL in October, Johnson made his first appearance since then only eight minutes into the game. Minutes before the fans had been chanting, “Put Lucas in, put Lucas in.”
Fellow senior forward Damir Krupalija also made it off the bench after being absent from the court since the end of December. Last but not least, junior forward Walter Young also saw action at the end of the game. Young, a wide receiver on the Illini football team, had joined the team only last week. His two points received probably one of the loudest reactions from the crowd. For the first time all season, every player on the Illinois pine made it unto the court.
“At times I went by who the fans were chanting to see,” said Illinois head coach Bill Self.
Last but not least, the fans helped aid in the roll of the sixth-man. They chanted for players to be put in, which worked every time but once.
UW head coach Bo Ryan was not as susceptible as Self was, and was not about to please the crowd and put in Michael Jackson. On the court, even the players seemed affected by the crowd. Whenever the shot clock reached 10, the fans started a countdown from five. When the fans yelled one, whoever had the ball for UW made a shot that they normally wouldn’t take. While some of the shots made at that point were legit, the fans noticed that their antics were working and started counting down as soon as the Badgers had possession.
Whether it was lack of execution on Wisconsin’s part or intensity derived from comeback players and fans of Illinois, Ryan made it clear that the fans’ role ends as soon as the court begins.
“[The fans] can’t shoot, play defense, rebound, but they sure can scream, and they’re great for fellow students,” said Ryan. “That is what makes this game great, but when you’re an athlete in the Big Ten you better be ready for that.”
To Illinois’ delight, Wisconsin was not ready for that.
