CHICAGO — Texas A&M Corpus Christi head coach Ronnie Arrow had it right. After No. 2-seeded Wisconsin clawed back from an 18-point deficit against his team on Friday, Arrow predicted that UW would meet a different fate against No. 7-seed Nevada-Las Vegas.
"I think when it's all said and done, Vegas will win the game," Arrow said.
Bull's-eye.
After recovering from a 13-point deficit and taking a five-point lead with 8:19 to go, the Badgers ultimately were snowed in by a 13-1 run by UNLV — keyed by Kevin Kruger — which sent a heavily-favored UW team with championship aspirations home early.
"Everybody wearing Wisconsin red thought we had the game in our hands when we took the lead," freshman guard Jason Bohannon said. "But they didn't buckle, UNLV, you have to give credit to them. But we can't have that game back. It's hard even to talk about it."
The loss sends a Wisconsin team that set school records for wins (30), conference wins (13), saw a new player crowned as scoring king (Alando Tucker, finishing with 2,217) and became the first to ever be ranked No. 1 in the AP poll, back to Madison well before the team's postseason goals were achieved.
"I'm very frustrated. This is not how I wanted to go out, and I don't think this is the way Tuck wanted to go out — in the second round of the tournament," said senior Kammron Taylor, who along with Tucker and Jason Chappell played their last collegiate game Sunday. "Even though we set a couple of school records as a team, our ultimate goal was to make a deep run in the tournament. Right now, it stinks, but life goes on."
"It's not a good feeling at all, to come out here and make it this far and to do so good and then lose a game like this," sophomore forward Marcus Landry said.
In their two NCAA tournament games, Wisconsin was plagued by slow starts due to poor shooting, and Sunday saw the team trailing UNLV by 12, 39-27 at halftime after making just 7 of 20 shots.
But the Badgers bounced back in a big way to open the second stanza, going on a long 26-9 run and taking a five-point lead. That was when things started to unravel.
Runnin' Rebel senior Wendell White — who finished with a team-high 22 points — hit a tough jumper over two UW defenders. Then Las Vegas' next possession, Kevin Kruger — at the time, 1-of-7 from the field — hit a 3-pointer to tie the game.
Kruger then caught fire and hit two more 3s back-to-back, leaving Wisconsin down five only three minutes after being up by the same margin.
"The defense was really good on him, but he just hit big shots," sophomore Joe Krabbenhoft said. "Big-time plays, and he did that today. He did a great job of leading his team today."
Two minutes later, with UW still down five and needing a defensive stop, Taylor fouled Kruger on a 3-pointer — the second time Kruger was fouled on a 3 Sunday — and the son of UNLV head coach Lon Kruger calmly hit all three free throws, putting the Badgers down eight. In all, Kruger scored 12 points in just more than four minutes, personally outscoring UW 12-3 in that span.
"Those were the nails," UW head coach Bo Ryan said.
In their final game, Taylor (24) and Tucker (17) were the only two Wisconsin players to reach double figures in scoring. They leave the program with a disappointing loss but were part of UW's most successful four-year stretch in team history, as members of the three winningest teams ever to don the cardinal and white.
"As seniors, you have a level of frustration and disappointment, but I wouldn't change anything that happened this whole season," Tucker said. "I've had fun. It's been a journey, and to be part of that with Kam and see what we have done, I'm really happy for that."
For his part, Ryan gushed on how proud he was of the 2006-07 team.
"I just hope that every guy that plays when you're around as the head coach, every one of them got an opportunity to do some things and to be a part of some special opportunities," Ryan said. "That's what I want my players to do, … to say they had the chance. I think this group took advantage of a lot of chances."
Ryan and his players stated that Tucker, Taylor and Chappell had a great impact on not only this year's team, but on the upcoming UW squads through their leadership and teachings.
"We got some things done at Wisconsin, and you never know if they're going to happen again," Ryan said. "But it's going to be fun trying."
