More than a week ago when the Badgers found themselves down by eleven points in the final minutes against Michigan State at the Kohl Center, it was the Spartans missing crucial free throws and the Badgers hitting critical shots. After Tuesday's loss to Illinois, irony reared its ugly head.
The Badgers failed to hold onto an eight-point lead that they built in the first ten minutes of the second half. Illini players hitting their shots from behind the arc, late turnovers and missing easy shots put the nail in the proverbial coffin for Wisconsin. The Badgers committed four consecutive turnovers and failed to help their cause to bring down the No. 1 team in the nation by missing layups and failing to convert from behind the arc when the game began falling out of reach.
\Some of [it was] the stuff we didn't do and of course part of it was what Illinois was able to do,"" senior forward Mike Wilkinson said. ""We still have to take care of the ball; we still have to make shots; knock down free throws-just make plays.""
While the Badgers might have made the Illini's job a bit easier, UW's miscues do not take away from the job the Illini players did. It is not difficult to see why Illinois came into the Kohl Center ranked No. 1 in the nation. The three-headed monster of junior guards Dee Brown and Deron Williams and senior guard Luther Head gave the Badgers fits all night, not only combining for 39 points, but 15 assists as well.
""They share the ball really well, especially in transition,"" senior guard Sharif Chambliss said. ""They're looking for each other.""
Brown's lightening quick speed put on a tutorial for the young Badger guards-whether it was sophomore Kammron Taylor or freshman Ray Nixon. At one point midway through the first period, with Brown and Taylor at the top of the key, Brown nearly forced Taylor to commit a turnover. On his second attempt on the same possession, he tapped the ball out of Taylor's hands before breezing in for the easy lay-up.
Despite his ability to wear defenders down, driving at will against whoever his defende was, Brown was not his typical offensive threat in terms of scoring, tallying only 8 points. Perhps his greatest threat was his ability to create shots for his teammates, not to mentionhis defensive performance which put on a show, forcing four steals, all in the first half as he blindsided the Badger guards.
While Illinois senior forward Jack Ingram will receive most of the laudation for two clutch shots from behind the arc, Head seemed to have learned from the mistakes of the MSU players. Finishing with a game-high 18 points, Head made four critical free throws that put the Illini up by an out-of-reach eight points.
UW responded to the dwindling lead by missing five of its final three-pointers, two final lay-ups and one jump shot. Besides a Taylor's free throw shot, the Badgers had a 4:34 scoring drought to end the game.
As big of a problem as missed shots were in the final minutes, free throws added another problem. Wisconsin prides itself on getting to the line more than its opponents-especially at home. The Badgers were 4-of-10 from the charity stripe in the first half and managed to get to the line only twice in the second half. While Wisconsin finished 5-of-12, the Illini were 17-of-20, including 6-of-8 in the critical final two minutes of the game.
It is difficult to determine where the Badgers went wrong-low free throw percentage, inability to hold onto the ball and not being able to make the shots that typically come so easily at the Kohl Center. When asked what he attributed the late collapse to, he answered it unusually succinctly for head coach Bo Ryan's press conferences:
""All of the above.""
