EVANSTON, Ill. — It was the same story on a different night for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team.
Leading 49-45 with 8:24 left in the game against Northwestern Saturday night, the Badgers managed to squander their lead en route to a 66-63 loss in Evanston, making it their sixth consecutive defeat.
“Those six games right there, we have been in all of them, and we haven’t pulled them out,” Wisconsin guard Jason Bohannon said. “That’s on us. That’s not on coach or on anyone else. That’s our fault. He’s the one telling us the right things to do and we are just not getting it done. We have to get it done to win.”
The last time the Badgers faced the Wildcats, Wisconsin had a 74-45 victory at the Kohl Center, which also marked their last victory before they started their losing streak. UW has only had two wins in the month of January, coming against Penn State on Jan. 3 and Northwestern on Jan. 7.
While they may have beaten the Wildcats by almost 30 points at the beginning of the month, Northwestern played a completely different game. NU shot 57.1 percent from the field throughout the game and 66.7 percent in the second half. They were also 8-of-13 from 3-point range, which included four 3’s to start the game.
“Anytime when a team shoots like that, it’s tough to win a game,” Bohannon said. “They hit some tough shots. There were times we were there and they still hit it. You know, we just have to play through it and keep forcing it. There were times where our defense broke down and gave them easy baskets, and we can’t have that if we are going to win basketball games.”
In addition to having the hot hand, Northwestern stifled the Badger offense with a 1-3-1 defense that limited Wisconsin’s inside presence until late in the game. It also cost the Badgers eight turnovers in the first half.
“We could have settled in a little bit earlier,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “We were just in too much of a hurry. But to add to that, we only had five [turnovers] in the second half and, you know, if you get 10 turnovers in a game, you are in pretty good shape.”
After finishing the first half tied at 27, Wisconsin was able to go on a 7-2 run, including a three from Bohannon, who finished the game with 11 points, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Junior forward Jon Leuer also had a solid game with 12 points, including a three.
Despite good games from Leuer, Bohannon and Trevon Hughes, who finished the game with 15 points, it was Northwestern guard Craig Moore who came up in the clutch down the stretch against the Badgers. With 11 seconds to go in the game and the Badgers fouling to stop the clock, Moore hit six free throws on three trips to the line to help cement the win for the Wildcats. Overall, Moore had a game-high 26 points, including going 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
Besides having problems stopping Moore, the Badgers also found themselves in foul trouble in the second half. Two quick fouls by Keaton Nankivil in the beginning of the second half put him on the bench. Forward Marcus Landry also had four fouls with 8:14 left in the game, which put him out of play until the last few minutes.
“You can’t blame anybody,” Ryan said of Landry’s foul trouble. “You have to be accountable to yourself.
The Badgers have not won a game in 24 days, which is moving them closer to being out of tournament contention come March. But, down the stretch, Wisconsin is still trying to take the season one game at a time.
“I wasn’t thinking about the losing streak in the last couple of seconds, I was thinking about the win,” Hughes said. “Yeah, it’s hard to get back on the left-hand side of things, but this is life and we have to get it together, and we are running out of time.”
