Published Dec 7, 2019
Instant Reaction: Wisconsin 84, Indiana 64
Taylor Lehman  •  Hoosier Huddle
Staff
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@TaylorRLehman

Indiana traveled to Madison for the team's first road game and first Big Ten game of the year in an effort to end a 16-game losing streak in the Kohl Center. But thanks to a quick start from Wisconsin, Indiana added another loss on the back end of the losing streak in Madison, with a 84-64 loss.

This is TheHoosier.com's instant reaction.

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Wisconsin started strongly

Indiana head coach Archie Miller stressed Friday afternoon in Bloomington that Wisconsin is a team that slows the pace of the game and creates a lot of pressure on each possession by limiting the number of offensive opportunities each team gets throughout a game. So suffering a an early deficit – in any game but these games in particular – is not what Indiana wanted.

Wisconsin was hitting nearly every shot it wanted to start, and only two of its first 19 points were from inside the paint. Indiana's defense struggled in a lot of ways, which are detailed below, and Wisconsin led by 20 points at halftime.

The early deficit dominated the the rest of the game, as Indiana found itself forcing up shots but never tightening up on defense.

Indiana defense nearly non-existent 

The Indiana defense began with vulnerabilities in man-to-man situations. Forward Joey Brunk struggled to stay on Wisconsin leading scorer Nate Reuvers, allowing the dynamic big man to shoot and drive at will, and forward Jerome Hunter couldn't contain Wisconsin guard Kobe King in the six minutes he was assigned to the Badger sophomore. King finished his first half with 17 points, one point shy of his career-high.

But after the 10-minute mark of the first half, Indiana's defense crumbled altogether. Wisconsin ended the first half shooting 63 percent from the floor and turned the ball over just one time.

For a team that identifies as a defense-turned-to-offense team, the Hoosiers scored zero points off turnovers in the first half and struggled to shoot from the floor in general, hitting just 33 percent of its shots.

Wisconsin lost its last three games coming into Saturday's game and averaged 52 points per game over that span, but the Badgers posted 47 points on the Hoosiers in Madison.

That scoring barrage was sparked by Indiana's failure to close on shooters. Wisconsin started with three early threes in the first four minutes of the game and eventually hit six three-point attempts in the first half after hitting just 15 in its last three games and boasting the 289th three-point percentage in the nation coming into Saturday.

Different players involved, lack of presence from others

After a career-high 30 points in the victory over No. 17 Florida State, Devonte Green didn't hit double-digits until near the end of the game. Throughout most of the game, Greens' presence wasn't felt as much as it had been since he returned to the floor this year.

Durham found himself carrying the shooting efforts at two points in the game, feeding a 10-0 second half run with back-to-back threes and driving to the basket when the Hoosiers got away from driving inside.

Trayce Jackson-Davis' presence was felt in pockets, but Saturday's game was his quietest game since the first game of his career. He was often off the floor late in the second half when the game was already lost.

Joey Brunk logged the worst game of his short tenure with Indiana so far. He struggled on both sides of the floor – defensively against Reuvers and offensively was outmatched. Race Thompson eventually was slotted in to serve Brunk's role late in the game and was encouraging on the boards but only in flashes as he played some of the most meaningful minutes he's seen this season.

Damezi Anderson's day was highlighted by a three-point shot and a steal, but he and Jerome Hunter often looked outmatched on defense. Both role players played a substantial amount of minutes.

De'Ron Davis saw four minutes on the court and missed four free throws in that time, airballing one of them.

No second half Surge

It hasn't been unusual to see this Indiana team get off to slow starts in the first half, but, especially early in the season, Indiana has been able to correct course and find success in the second half. That wasn't the case Saturday.

Outside of a 10-0 run that cut the Wisconsin lead from 31 to 21, Indiana couldn't get much going on offense. Wisconsin was able to limit possessions to run time off the clock, and while Wisconsin went more than five minutes without a score in the second half, the Badger lead was already too great to overcome.

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