Wisconsin’s offense comes up empty late in Big Ten Tournament loss to Iowa

Wisconsin made just one shot in roughly the final 10 minutes of the game and lost to Iowa 62-57 Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.

D’Mitrik Trice hit a 3-pointer with 9:21 left to give the Badgers a 48-46 lead. Wisconsin would miss its next nine shots, with the next make coming from Trice from deep with 11 seconds left to make it 60-57. But that would be it for the Badgers, who fell apart offensively down the stretch for a second-straight game. Against Penn State, they managed to hold on. Against Iowa, they were unable to overcome it.

The toughest thing for Wisconsin to accept is they held the powerful Hawkeyes offense more than in check. The 62 points were the second-fewest Iowa had scored this year, and it’s the first time it had won a game when scoring less than 70. One of the top offenses in the country, the Hawkeyes shot 10% (2-for-20) from beyond the arc, easily their worst effort of the season. Big Ten Player of the Year Luka Garza got his, scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds, but his teammates were just 16-for-49 (32%) from the field.

All of those numbers are to illustrate just how poorly Wisconsin had to play to not win the game. The Badgers shot 8-for-26 from the field in the second half, with Trice accounting for six of those makes. They turned the ball over 14 times, the second-most all year, including six in the final 7:52 of the game. They allowed Iowa to overcome its poor shooting by giving up 12 offensive rebounds, including nine in the second half. All the little things the Badgers have prided themselves on for the last 20 years didn’t go their way and most of them were self-inflicted.

Trice finished with 19 points (8-for-17 FG), while Micah Potter battled down low with Garza, picking up 17 points and eight rebounds. Brad Davison added 10 points and three rebounds.

The loss ended the Badgers Big Ten Tournament short of the semifinals for just the third time in the last nine tournaments. They also fell for a sixth time in their last eight games. The team will now await Selection Sunday to see their seed in the NCAA Tournament that will get underway next Friday in Indianapolis.