It was a wild one at the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon.

Wisconsin’s Traevon Jackson received a friendly bounce on a pull-up jumper that beat the shot clock with just four seconds left in the game and Minnesota’s Rodney Williams missed a critical free throw to tie the game in the last second, as the Badgers (14-6, 5-2 Big Ten) held on to beat the Gophers (15-5, 3-4) in a 45-44 thriller.

Minnesota’s Andre Hollins led all scorers with 20 points, while Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker and Ryan Evans both led their team with 10 points apiece.

“We bounced back,” fifth-year senior forward Ryan Evans said.

With the Badgers trailing 41-43 with 1:03 left in regulation, Jackson hit the first of two back-breaking pull-up jumpers, hitting the first from a bit outside the free throw line.

Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith called a timeout and opted to isolate Hollins between the circles. Hollins initially blew by Jackson – his defender – on the left side but was whistled for a charge after Ben Brust beat him to a spot just a few feet outside the basket.

“That was very good footwork, very good court awareness and he deserves a lot of credit for making a play,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “He made a play that helped us get that ball game on the left side and that was a huge charge to get.”

With momentum swinging fully behind the Badgers, Ryan opted to take a 30-second timeout. There was seemingly no designed play, as Jackson took the ball just past the half-court line to the right side, watching the time tick away on the shot clock.

Then, with 14 seconds left on the shot clock and 18 seconds in the game, Jackson attacked. At first the guard was repelled from driving to the center of the lane, as Jackson found himself past the right elbow with the Gophers’ shot-blocker Trevor Mbakwe draped all over him.

But, with two seconds left on the shot clock, Jackson put up a shot fake and drew Mbakwe up into the air and out of the way. Jackson promptly fired up his jumper, drawing iron and receiving a kind bounce into the bottom of the net.

“I felt that I needed to step up and hit the shots,” Jackson said. “My teammates were able to get me open and I luckily knocked it down.

“[The shot clock] was only at four, you can make a play with four [seconds], I was able to get him in the air and I got him in the air and got a nice little roll and we won the game.”

Tubby Smith called a timeout, prompting a review by the referees to see if Jackson’s shot was off before the shot clock expired and to see how much time remained in the game when Smith called the timeout.

After a review, 0.3 seconds were added on to the clock and Jackson’s shot was upheld, as a second look showed he beat the buzzer by a millisecond.

Trailing 45-43 with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game, Minnesota threw in a pass on the left elbow to Mbakwe, hoping the sixth-year senior would deliver. But, a whistle soon blew the play dead, as forward Mike Bruesewitz was called for holding, sending Mbakwe to the line and Bruesewitz to the bench.

But Mbakwe injured his wrist on the play and was unable to shoot the free throws, so the Badgers chose to send Williams to the line to shoot in Mbakwe’s stead.

With the Kohl Center crowd deafening in volume, Williams calmly sank the first free throw to bring UW’s lead to just one. But, with the pressure on to sink the second and tie the game, Williams’ attempt found the back of the iron, as Sam Dekker grabbed the rebound and launched the ball into the air.

“That’s a tough situation,” Ryan said in reference to Williams’ free throws.

It wasn’t pretty on either side offensively for the entire game, as the Badgers shot just 37 percent and the Gophers shot a measly 34.8 percent from the floor.

But, unlike this past Tuesday night against Michigan State, Wisconsin found a way to eke out a win in the game’s final minutes.

“This was a must-win game,” Jackson said. “You have to take care of home court when you get a chance to.”