[media-credit name=’MEGHAN CONLIN/Herald Photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]IOWA CITY, Iowa — The curtain of the 2006 regular season drew to a close for the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team Saturday afternoon, and in many respects, the team saved their worst performance of the season for last, scoring a season-low total in points during a 59-44 thumping by Iowa.

Playing their second game in less than 48 hours, the Badgers looked in dire need of a siesta, shooting 29.4 percent from the field, their worst percentage in a Big Ten game this season.

"I think anybody that has seen our guys knows that this was way too quick a turnaround," UW head coach Bo Ryan said. "In all fairness to [the players], I just wish they could've had some more time. But they didn't."

"It's tough to come back on one day's rest, and you could tell they were definitely dragging," Iowa guard Jeff Horner said. "When you have to play a Thursday-Saturday [series], it's pretty tough, and when you have to play Michigan State on top of that, one of the best fast-break teams in the country, it's triply tough."

The legs of Wisconsin (19-10, 9-7 Big Ten) looked especially weary in the second half, where they shot a dismal 20 percent (6-30), allowing Iowa (22-8, 11-5) to break the game open with a 22-8 run.

"Man, their intensity was much higher than ours for the full 40 minutes," junior point guard Kammron Taylor said. "I think we did a good job in the second half of matching their intensity. Come down to the second half … the intensity just wasn't there."

Trailing just 24-22 to open the second half, the Badgers' simply couldn't keep up with the Hawkeyes any longer. Iowa went on that 22-8 run to push their lead to 18, and Wisconsin would never draw closer than 12 the rest of the way.

"This is a tough environment to come and play in on their Senior Day," Taylor said. "They were fired up, and we didn't do a good job of matching their intensity for the [whole game]. We only came out and played one half of basketball."

"Mentally, we ran out," junior forward Alando Tucker said. "Physically, we could've kept going. It's just, I think, the mental thing."

Taylor led the Badgers with 11 points — the lowest total for a UW leading scorer in any game this year — while Tucker chipped in with 10 points, falling 13 points shy of becoming the Big Ten's leading scorer this season. Although he finished as the conference's scoring leader in Big Ten games, he finished third behind Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic and Michigan State's Maurice Ager in the overall scoring department.

Horner led all scorers with 22 points and his backcourt mate Adam Haluska added 16 points for the Hawkeyes. The pair consistently found themselves open coming off screens for catch-and-shoot jumpers.

"When you're chasing guys through two or three screens non-stop, it's very tough to challenge, and it takes five guys," Tucker said.

The constant pursuit of Horner and Haluska might have paid dividends in other ways, too, as Iowa head coach Steve Alford believes that Tucker was slowed offensively, due to the amount of energy he had to expend on defense.

"That was a goal going into the game," Alford said. "Because of what we did to him [when we were on offense], I think it tired [Tucker] a little bit."

The Badgers led for most of the first half, taking a 16-7 lead just past the midway point of the opening period, but they just weren't able to hold onto the early advantage. The reason was a rabid Iowa defense that forced 10 UW turnovers in the first half, with every Hawkeye who saw the floor grabbing at least one steal.

The aggression wasn't limited to the defensive end either, as Iowa also pulled down nine offensive boards in the half.

"They were … really being aggressive," Wisconsin freshman Kevin Gullikson said. "They were coming to the ball, they were leaving their areas to try and steal the ball. We needed to do a better job of stepping to the ball."

Iowa went on a slow 17-6 run to end the half and hold a two-point lead at the break, even though they shot under 30 percent (9-30). Combined with the run Iowa had to open the second half, the Hawkeyes outscored UW 39-14 over a stretch of more than 21 minutes.

"They went on [a] run and we couldn't stop them," Taylor said.