No. 5 Iowa hands No. 25 Wisconsin its third straight loss

No. 25 Wisconsin lost for the fifth time in its last six games, this time a 77-73 setback at No. 5 Iowa on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

After another ugly first half shooting the ball, the Badgers erased a 12-point Hawkeyes lead in the second, eventually taking their biggest lead at 69-65 with 2:26 left. Iowa answered and the game was tied at 71 with 34 seconds left when guard Jordan Bohannon drew a questionable fifth foul on D’Mitrik Trice on a 3-pointer and knocked down all three free throws.

On the ensuing possession, Brad Davison drew a shooting foul only to then also be called for a hook-and-hold flagrant foul. After the teams exchanged free throws to make it 74-71, the Badgers managed to tie Bohannon up and get a jump ball. Aleem Ford got a good look at a 3-pointer but couldn’t knock it down. It looked like Wisconsin might get another shot when Ford appeared to tip the ball off of Bohannon before it went out of bounds, but the officials determined it would stay with the Hawkeyes. CJ Fredrick made 1 of 2 from the free throw line to seal the game for Iowa.

Micah Potter led the way for the Badgers, scoring 23 points (4-for-6 3P), while Davison had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Jonathan Davis added 11 points, three assists and four steals.

Wisconsin shot 46.7% from the field, its second-best mark since early January. It included going 9-for-24 from beyond the arc, including 7-for-13 in the second half.

Iowa was paced by Luka Garza’s 21 points and 16 rebounds. Bohannon had 16 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Joe Wieskamp had 12 points early before suffering an ankle injury. He left the game and did not return.

The Badgers finished the season 16-11 overall and 10-10 in Big Ten play. It was their eighth straight loss to a ranked team and they were 0-8 against teams with a winning record in conference play.

UW will be the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will play Thursday against the winner of the Penn State and Nebraska game.