After lighting up Nebraska at the Kohl Center Tuesday night, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team (12-8, 5-4) struggled to make anything happen against the Purdue Boilermakers (11-9, 4-5) in their Friday night matchup, losing 70–51.
The Badgers traveled to Mackey Arena to take on the Boilermakers but were unable to find a rhythm throughout the entirety of the game as they were limited to just 15 points by the end of the first half and only 51 points in the entire game.
Men’s Basketball: Wisconsin pulls away late in win over Nebraska
Part of their inability to find a rhythm was due to the Boilermakers smothering defense that forced 11 turnovers, eight of which were steals. Purdue also blocked five Badger shots.
In Tuesday night’s game, the Badgers shot 52.9% from beyond the arc, converting 18 of their 34 3-point attempts. Friday night, the Badgers did not find the same success as they only made 7 of their 22 3-point attempts, a measly 31.8%.
Purdue was able to completely shut down Kobe King, one of the Badgers’ more prolific scorers. King finished with zero points, four assists and two turnovers.
It was not just King that struggled tonight, however. Aleem Ford only scored six points and Brad Davison only managed to score one basket resulting in two points. The Badger bench did provide 22 points but 11 of those came from Micah Potter in just 13 minutes. Walt McGrory also added a 3-pointer in the final minutes of the game.
Men’s Basketball: Following D’Mitrik Trice’s mid-season rise
On the bright side, D’Mitrik Trice and Potter led all Badgers in scoring, each pouring in 11 points. Trice was 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. This is the second game in a row that Trice has found success on the court. In his outing Tuesday, Trice had 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to help lead the Badgers to victory over Nebraska.
The Badgers fell out of a five-way tie for third place in the Big Ten conference after the loss tonight, settling for a seventh-place tie with Minnesota. Wisconsin now sits at 12-8 on the season and 5-4 in a rigorous Big Ten conference, meaning they will need to pick up the pace before the conference tournament in March.
The road ahead does not get any easier for the Badgers as they travel to Iowa City to take on the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes Monday night. The Badgers will then return home for a rematch against the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans at the Kohl Center next Saturday afternoon.
