CHICAGO-Eleven must be Wisconsin's unlucky number against Illinois.
For the third time this season, the Badgers lost to the Illini by 11 points, most recently in the Big Ten Conference championship game Sunday afternoon at the United Center in Chicago.
With the 54-43 victory, Illinois (15-1 Big Ten, 32-1 overall) bounced back from its regular-season-ending loss to Ohio State and righted its ship before NCAA Tournament time.
For the Badgers (11-5, 22-8), winners of five of their last six, a minor course adjustment is in order following the loss to the top-ranked Illini.
\We're still taking steps,"" sophomore forward Alando Tucker said. ""We always can learn. You can't get too down our yourselves after a loss, you have to take the good with the bad. We're going to look at this [game] and we're going to see what things we can improve on and that's going to help us further down the road.""
The first half saw both Wisconsin and Illinois start with intensity on defense. The Illini were able to shoot the ball with more consistency than the Badgers, mainly due to Illinois' dominance in the paint.
Illini junior forward James Augustine scored 12 points-six on dunks-and also added nine rebounds and three blocks en route to being named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Illinois senior forward Roger Powell Jr. pitched in a game-high 15 points and 12 boards, as Illinois outscored UW 22 to 12 in the paint. The Badgers shot a measly 25.9 percent from the floor as Tucker and Wilkinson went a combined 5 of 21. Tucker scored a team-high nine points and Wilkinson finished the game with eight, as no Badger cracked double digits. Wilkinson was visibly uspet with his performance and took the loss hard.
""I had some shots and just didn't knock them down,"" Wilkinson said. ""That's something I need to do and I've been doing it most of the year. I didn't do it today.""
The Illini pushed their lead as high as 16 points midway through the second half with Illinois senior guard Luther Head's dunk with 8:48 left in the game. The Badgers followed with a 10-point run to cut Illinois' lead to five points with just under four minutes to play. It was as close as UW would get. Wisconsin missed their next five shots from the floor and Illinois closed out the game with six free throws.
""We didn't finish around the basket this afternoon,"" UW head coach Bo Ryan said. ""That made all the difference in the world.""
Both Wilkinson and Tucker both were named to the All-Tournament team. They were joined with Augustine, Head and Minnesota junior forward/guard Vincent Grier. Illinois junior guard Dee Brown did not score a point, shooting 0 of 8 from the field, including 0 of 5 from 3-point range. Wisconsin now gears up for their NCAA first-round match-up against Northern Iowa, as the No. 6 Badgers take on the No. 11 Panthers Friday, March 18 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
