WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Last month the UW men's basketball team went into Austin, Texas, fought through a game it never had control of and stole a win on a Michael Flowers 3-pointer with just over two seconds remaining.
Saturday's game at Purdue was nearly a mirror image of UW's best win of the season, except this time the senior guard was denied on a drive to the basket, sealing the 60-56 upset win by the Boilermakers.
Down 58-56 with just over 10 seconds to go, Wisconsin drew up the same play that sprung Flowers open for the game-winner in Texas. This time the shot was not there so he drove to the basket. That was where freshman guard Robbie Hummel blocked Flowers' last-ditch attempt, handing UW its first conference loss of the season.
We're going to try and play for the best shot,"" head coach Bo Ryan said. ""They switched out and Michael felt he had the corner turned and he continued on the drive and felt he could make a play. I give him all the credit in the world. I thought he had a good opportunity to make a play but it just didn't turn out that way this time.""
Wisconsin (6-1 Big Ten, 16-3 overall) never seemed to seize control of the game at any point. Every time UW went on a scoring run, Purdue would hit a big shot to grab the momentum back. When it was all over, those clutch shots saved Purdue (6-1, 15-5) from an overall bad shooting night (37 percent).
""It seemed like we were always coming from behind or it was right there and they would hit a couple big shots,"" senior forward Brian Butch said. ""We just need to be able to finish it out and not put ourselves in a situation where we are playing from behind.""
Butch led all scorers with 20 points, keeping Wisconsin in the game with a 7-for-10 shooting performance while adding 13 rebounds.
But rebounding was once again a problem. After edging Purdue 18-17 in first half rebounds, the Boilermakers grabbed four more than UW in the second half and in this close game, every loose ball mattered.
""I had a rebound there with about a minute left,"" a frustrated Joe Krabbenhoft said after the game. ""I tried to find somebody open for a three and mishandled it or whatever. I'll have to see the tape to see exactly what happened, but [every] single little choice that you are going to make is crucial - especially in a game like this. If we make one or two different plays maybe it goes our way but they were the ones making the plays and executing and we just didn't.""
The frustration was understandable for the junior guard. Krabbenhoft gave his teammates a boost with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting but only pulled down two second-half rebounds after nabbing five in the first 20 minutes.
Wisconsin also had an uncharacteristically bad shooting performance. Flowers struggled overall with only five points on 2-of-8 shooting, while Landry was cold the entire game, also finishing with five points while hitting only 2 of 10 shots. Jason Bohannon helped by making all six of his free throw attempts, but the sophomore guard only managed two shots in 28 minutes of play, missing both of his 3-point attempts.
""We left a lot of things out there,"" Butch said. ""We played hard, but we did some very uncharacteristic things that we usually don't do. We got away with it when we played Michigan a couple of nights ago, but you don't get away with it all the time and we didn't tonight.""
Still, as has been the case this season, the right guy got hot at the right time and this time it was Butch who nailed both of his 3-point attempts on the game. The second of those came during a 7-0 run that shrunk a 9-point Purdue lead down to two. But once again the Boilermakers responded, and it was Hummel who was open for a three that made the score 55-50 with just over four minutes to go.
While the Badgers had an opportunity to tie at the end, Hummel's shot was the dagger that put the game out of reach. And when the freshman blocked Flowers' attempt and added two free throws to seal it, his teammates hoisted the Valparaiso, Ind. native on their shoulders while the Boilermakers' student section rushed the court.
But when asked after the game if the moment could be compared to the movie 'Hoosiers,' Hummel very humbly responded, ""I didn't do anything ""Hoosiers"" today.""
Unfortunately for Wisconsin, it will have to regroup quickly because the actual Indiana Hoosiers come to Madison Thursday night where they will test their undefeated conference record in the Kohl Center.
