It was just another night at the Kohl Center for Bo Ryan's Badgers, except this time the tough defense and balanced scoring attack led to a win against the No. 11 team in the nation.
UW received a team-high 16 points from sophomore guard Trevon Hughes and junior forward Marcus Landry added 14. But on a night where points were hard to come by, junior guard Joe Krabbenhoft's six offensive rebounds sealed the 62-49 win over Indiana Thursday night.
It seemed like every time we had a chance to get it down to six or five - the Krabbenhoft kid I really like him,"" IU head coach Kelvin Sampson said.
""There are kids like him who are invaluable to your team. Seems like kids like him always make the right play or make the key play.""
For the most part Wisconsin (7-1 Big Ten, 17-3 overall) shut down IU freshman guard Eric Gordon, but a late 10-0 run by the Big Ten's leading scorer helped cut a 20-point lead in half.
After hitting two free throws, Gordon nailed his first three-pointer of the game with 11:58 to go and added a field goal and another three just moments later, cutting a 46-26 UW lead down to 10.
That three-pointer with just under 12 minutes to go was only the third field goal of the half for IU and the first basket by anyone other than senior forward D.J. White during that stretch.
Gordon only had four points before his 10-0 run and finished with 16 on 6-for-14 shooting. For the most part, UW senior guard Michael Flowers held the star in check, despite battling the flu.
""I thought our guys did a great job (on defense),"" head coach Bo Ryan said. ""Mike was battling the flu and you could probably tell from his facial expressions out there that he wasn't at 100 percent but he never stepped back and I thought he did a real good job chasing and handling screening situations.""
On a night where all eyes were on GordonÃ?¡ who was probably playing his first and last game in the Kohl Center, it was White who led the Hoosiers with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting. The senior also amassed 17 rebounds.
Still, no one other than White or Gordon managed more than four points for the Hoosiers (6-1, 17-3) who lost their second straight game.
""They did their job,"" Ryan said about his defense. ""We were better on the task than we were in the last game as far as following the rules. I thought our guys stayed true to the task and help and recover and the rotations were much better.""
With 7:24 left in the game White hit a jumper that brought IU within five points at 48-43. The Badgers wanted to take time off the clock after Indiana's 17-2 run, but they did not imagine that their shot attempt would be blocked out of bounds with just one second left on the shot clock.
Hughes managed to get a shot off and hit the rim, allowing Flowers to secure a key extra possession for Wisconsin by grabbing the offensive rebound. The possession ended with two made free throws by sophomore Jason Bohannon, which took an entire minute off the clock. From that point on, the Hoosiers never got closer than six points.
""We hit the rim on the shot,"" Ryan said. ""A lot of teams with one second don't even hit the rim. But we have a couple different options and the inside option was taken away. We have a 360 lob it up slam dunk, twister that we use Marcus Landry for but they took that away.""
While the junior forward didn't get the ball on that possession, his 6-of-10 shooting and 11 rebounds gave Landry his first career double-double.
UW now has a quick turnaround with only two days to prepare for Sunday's tilt at Minnesota.
