Indiana's 17-point lead against No. 22 Wisconsin at halftime was built on a mixture of solid 3-point shooting and defense. Parker Stewart was 3-of-3 from beyond the arc while the defense held Wisconsin to only 1-of-10 from 3-point. This success, however, didn’t translate into the second half and instead, Wisconsin’s defense prevented IU from making 3-pointers.
“Towards the end of the first half we settled in a little bit more,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said in a postgame press conference. “We were a little better offensively… that allowed our defense to get set… they had no 3’s.”
Four IU players, including Stewart, consistently missed from deep in the second half, and Wisconsin steadily chipped away at the deficit.
The Badgers shot 4-of-13 from 3-point in the second half, and while that's not a high percentage, it outmatched IU's 0-of-5 stretch to close out the game.
"We struggled to score in the second half; I mean, there's no question about it," head coach Mike Woodson said in a postgame interview. "We couldn't make shots and then we couldn't get stops. That's a double-edged sword for you when you try to win a basketball game."
Point guard Xavier Johnson repeatedly drove to the basket in an attempt to draw fouls, which weren't typically called. This tactic negatively impacted his vision for his teammates such as Stewart on the outside.
Johnson would fly by the guards when driving to the basket, usually not kicking it out for a 3-point attempt. However, shooters weren't open on the perimeter when he drove to the hoop as Wisconsin defenders were pinned on Stewart and Miller Kopp.
“Yeah they started to stick to shooters a lot (in the second half),” Johnson said. “We were starting to heat up (in the first half). Parker and Miller were heating up and hitting shots.”
Johnson went on to miss his last eight shots.
Coming into the game, the Hoosiers had a 37.4 3-point percentage, the 48th-highest in the nation, according to KenPom.com. Wisconsin was on the other end of the scale with a 31.7 3-point percentage, the 233rd highest in the country.
IU still shot nearly 20 percent better from 3-point when the buzzer sounded, but the previous misses were detrimental as Wisconsin capitalized on free-throw shooting in the bonus.
"When I look at the stat sheet, we won in almost every category except for the score," Woodson said. "I gotta help them figure out ways to win games like this."
The Badgers didn't make many 3-pointers, but Johnny Davis' tricky corner 3-pointer gave Wisconsin a 60-59 lead with a little over a minute left. It acted as the dagger, lifting the team’s momentum.
"The biggest bucket tonight was Davis' three to put them up," Woodson said. "We couldn't answer after that."
The close 64-59 road loss continues IU's 19-game losing streak at Wisconsin since 2000. The Hoosiers also dropped to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. IU's next chance to rebound is on Sunday, Dec. 12th, against Merrimack.
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