Needing to start stacking wins to impress the NCAA Tournament committee, Indiana faces a tough challenge to snap its recent skid when it travels to face No. 21 Wisconsin on Tuesday in Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) overcame a sluggish first half and rallied for a 75-69 win at Northwestern on Saturday, avoiding a third consecutive road loss. But the Badgers are 11-1 at home this season and 20-0 at home against Indiana since 2000.
John Tonje had 27 points against Northwestern and reserve Carter Gilmore added all of his career-high 15 points after halftime for the Badgers, who trailed 31-25 at half.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said afterward. “This was a really gutty performance knowing it was going to be a rock fight coming in here.
“For us to withstand a 28 percent shooting first half, defensively be able to keep ourselves in the game, and then not crumble, and continue to come out battling and show incredible toughness.”
Tonje, who has scored at least 20 points in four consecutive games, averages 18.6 points and owns a team-leading 49 3-pointers. John Blackwell adds 15.5 points, Nolan Winter 10.1 and Max Klesmit 10.0 per game. Steven Crowl grabs a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game.
Wisconsin remains on pace to shatter the NCAA single-season record for free-throw percentage. The Badgers are hitting 84.6 percent for the year and have made more free throws (386) than their opponents have attempted (385).
Wisconsin averages 81.5 points, allowing 70.5. Dating to last season, the Badgers are 29-1 when holding opponents to 70 points or fewer, including 12-1 this season. Wisconsin also has scored at least 80 points in 13 games this season, the first time since 1970-71.
Indiana (14-8, 5-6 Big Ten) is coming off its third consecutive loss, an 81-76 decision Friday at then-No. 10 Purdue.
The Hoosiers had a chance to earn their biggest win of the year as they led Purdue 67-61 with 5:30 to play, but they were outscored 20-9 down the stretch. The Boilermakers also scored 26 points off 20 turnovers.
“The difference in the game was the 20 turnovers that we had,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said afterward. “That was huge, and on the road, you can’t turn it over like that. And they made us pay for it.”
Oumar Ballo averages a double-double with 14.5 and 10.0 rebounds per game. Mackenzie Mgbako adds 13.1 points, Malik Reneau 12.5 and Myles Rice 11.5.
Mgbako had 25 points and Trey Galloway 15 against Purdue, but Rice was scoreless in 20 minutes. The point guard sat on the bench for most of the second half as Galloway got hot, then he missed a go-ahead 10-footer in the waning seconds when he thought he got fouled.
“To know that we’re right there and that close and (not) being able to find ways to win those close games is definitely frustrating for all of us,” Galloway said after the Purdue game. “We want to win in the worst way possible. But the good thing is another great opportunity against Wisconsin, so we’ve just got to look forward to that and learn from this.”
–Field Level Media
