Inclement weather in Madison could not stop Idaho State (2-6) from making it into town for a matchup against the Wisconsin men's basketball team (7-2), but cold shooting on the court almost cost the Badgers the game as they barely hung on to seize a 60-58 victory Tuesday night.
Shooting 37.7 percent from the field and missing seven free throws on the night left Wisconsin in a dire position in the waning minutes of the game.
We stuck it out, we ended up on the left-hand side, but '¦ we've got to get a lot better,"" senior forward Marcus Landry said. ""I'm not satisfied with our performance, I don't think our team is as a whole, if I could speak for them. We just need to get better, we need to improve. There's no excuses for the way we played today.""
The game started out well for head coach Bo Ryan's team, as the Badgers cranked out an early 12-2 lead thanks in large part to two consecutive 3-point shots from junior guard Jason Bohannon.
Nearly five minutes into the game, the Bengals finally got their offense going and put together a 6-0 run to pull within four. With both teams operating on all cylinders, the game turned into a back-and-forth battle that featured a pair of shots in the paint by sophomore forward Jon Leuer, including a tough layup down low to put Wisconsin up 20-13.
However, the Badgers hit a drought with seven minutes left in the half, and Idaho State took advantage. Four points from junior guard Kal Bay fueled a Bengal surge that led to a seven-point run and a 21-20 lead.
Wisconsin finally got back on track with two more 3-pointers from Bohannon and a layup from Landry to end the half, but were nursing a meager 29-27 lead.
In the second half, Idaho State came out firing and put up the first four points to take a 29-31 advantage. The Badgers caught their breath after taking a timeout under two minutes and got back into a rhythm. Four points each from Landry, Leuer and senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft fueled the Badger offense following the break, but five missed shots and two missed free throws allowed the Bengals to stay in the game.
With the score at 41-40 with Wisconsin ahead, the Badgers looked like they would begin to break away when a 3-point shot from junior guard Trevon Hughes was followed up by five more points to make the margin 49-40 with 6:43 left to play. But in the ensuing six minutes, Wisconsin once again struggled to hit from the floor, shooting 1-of-6 on the court and missing three free throws.
""I thought we came away on some empty trips where we could have really put a dagger in, and we didn't,"" Ryan said. ""You just keep leaving the other team confidence [by doing that].""
With 43 seconds remaining, Idaho State junior guard Amorrow Morgan nailed a jumper to make the score 54-51, and the Bengals were forced to foul to stay in the game.
Wisconsin would go to the free-throw line four more times before the final buzzer, but each time Idaho State also managed to score on its ensuing possessions. With two seconds remaining and the score tight at 59-58, Hughes went to the line for two free throws, hitting the first and missing the second. A desperation inbound by Idaho State made it across center court, but was mishandled and batted away as time expired.
""We didn't score on about nine possessions, I think it was,"" Landry said. ""And if you look back at the Marquette game, I think it was the same thing: We didn't score on nine possessions. It hurts us when you don't score on nine possessions and they go down and they score on nine possessions. That lead gets cut down right away. We've really got to make sure that we keep executing and finding open guys'¦so that that lead won't get away from us.
