The parallels to Wisconsin’s season-opening loss to Western Illinois were too obvious to ignore as the game wore on and the panic level at the Kohl Center continued to rise.
Unfortunately for UW fans, those fears became reality once again. For a second time this season, a seemingly inferior mid-major opponent came into Madison and upended the Badgers, another setback in what has already been a perplexing year for a program that’s still coming down from the euphoria of the most successful two-year run in its history.
The Milwaukee Panthers (7-3) shocked Wisconsin (6-4) 68-67 to pick up their first win over the Badgers since 1992, snapping a 22-game losing streak against their in-state foes.
It was a landmark win for UWM head coach Rob Jeter, who played under Bo Ryan at UW-Platteville and served on his coaching staff in Platteville, Milwaukee and Madison.
“Tonight we played the game the way [Ryan] taught me to play it,” Jeter said. “Our guys played the only way we had a chance to win a game like this. It’s more of a compliment to everything he’s accomplished and everywhere he’s been.”
“He’s a winner, and like I said, another father to me. It’s bittersweet, there’s no doubt about it. I mean, it’s hard for me to really celebrate other than to just say thank you to Bo for all the things he’s done for me and my family.”
Wisconsin appeared to be well on its way to another win over the Panthers early on. The Badgers built a 15-point lead in the first half and held a 12-point advantage at the half.
However, it all came unraveled in the second half.
Despite receiving a career-high 32 points from junior forward Nigel Hayes and getting into the double bonus with 8:43 left in the second half, the UW offense as a whole went completely ice cold after halftime. Wisconsin shot just 29.2 percent in the second half and was relying almost entirely on Hayes to provide points down the stretch.
Hayes went 9-18 from the field on the night, while the rest of his teammates combined to go 11-37. Though Hayes did only go 12-19 from the charity stripe and missed a couple big free throws late in the game, his efforts essentially kept the Badgers in the game.
“Just a great effort on his part,” Ryan said of Hayes’ performance. “Could’ve hit a few more free throws. Any competitor would take a look at that game and find some things that they could’ve done better. But he needed some help from his teammates.”
Elsewhere on the team, points were hard to come by. Junior forward Vitto Brown went just 1-9 from the field. Junior guard Bronson Koenig, after going 3-6 in the first half, shot just 2-10 after the break.
Koenig did bury a huge 3-pointer to pull the Badgers within one with 13.4 seconds remaining. A Milwaukee turnover on the ensuing inbound gave Wisconsin the ball back with a chance to escape with a win.
Rather than drive to the basket and try to draw contact in a game that had already seen 48 fouls called, Koenig settled for a last-second jumper that was off the mark, sealing the win for the Panthers.
Though he wasn’t upset with his shot selection, Koenig did admit that he could’ve handled the situation differently.
“We were [in the] double bonus, so I probably should’ve drove, got some contact and got to the line,” Koenig said.
With a home game against rival Marquette Saturday at 12:30 p.m. looming, the Badgers don’t have time to dwell on this latest shocking loss. Instead, they’ll need to try to leave this ugly loss in the past and avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
