When the Badgers' men's basketball team (5-2 Big Ten, 15-5 overall) hit a rough patch just less than two weeks ago, it looked as though the group might be able to recover after a rout over Penn State at home. But even after a late rally, the downward spiral continued for the Badgers with an 85-76 loss to Michigan (5-2 Big Ten, 15-3 overall) in Ann Arbor Saturday.
The Badgers, who started the weekend atop the conference with a 5-1 record, now fall into a four-way tie with the likes of Michigan, Illinois and Iowa for the top mark in the conference. Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State all trail by one game with a record of 4-3.
A season-high 23 points by junior guard Dion Harris paced the Wolverines, while junior center Courtney Sims pitched in with 18. With their win over Michigan State Wednesday, Michigan beat two ranked opponents in consecutive games for the first time since 1994.
Wisconsin's offensive woes were not the only problem. For a team that lost defensively inclined players in freshman forward Marcus Landry and sophomore center Greg Stiemsma last week due to academic ineligibility, UW's inability to contest the Wolverines' shots was more than evident. Michigan shot 54.9 percent from the field, while Wisconsin poured in 45 percent.
'Their shots were going down,' said junior forward Alando Tucker, who scored 21 points and uncharacteristically went 5-of-8 from the free throw line. 'They were just hitting.'
Junior guard Kammron Taylor had a career-high 29 points for the Badgers, and engineered a comeback attempt that was too late, scoring 13 straight points while cutting the Michigan lead to seven with just under 40 seconds remaining. Taylor's late-scoring barrage came less than two minutes after he lay motionless on the floor, after running into senior forward Graham Brown's pick as Taylor crossed the half court line.
The comeback attempt was too late for the Badgers, who have now dropped three out of their last four, including two losses to unranked teams.
The Badgers' inability to get to the line, and keep the Wolverines off of the charity stripe for that matter, cost them. With the Badgers having only one player, Taylor, shooting over 80 percent from the line with more than 10 free-throw attempts on the season, their mark of 81 percent was by no means poor. Yet, UW only attempted 16 free throws on the afternoon, while Michigan shot 27, making 22.
Michigan guard Daniel Horton, who hit the floor in the first minutes of the game but was able to return, shot only 2-of-10 from the field, but was perfect from the line. The senior knocked down free throws in the final four possessions for the Wolverines.
'We were trying to keep him from catching it and he still caught it,' Ryan said. 'So when you're playing from behind it's tough.'
Sophomore center Brian Butch finished with one of his worst games as a Badger, fouling out with three points and three rebounds to the big man's credit. Senior guard Ray Nixon put in his second straight solid performance, knocking down 5-of-7 shots and three 3-pointers on his way to 13 points.
In their second straight battle for Big Ten supremacy, the Badgers will play host to the Illini Tuesday at 6 p.m. Illinois, headed by senior guard Dee Brown and senior forward James Augustine, was the last Big Ten team to defeat UW on their home court.
