(5) Wisconsin 76, (1) Purdue 75: Last word

March 16, 2024
|In Badgers
|By Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Wisconsin got 22 points from Chucky Hepburn and 20 from AJ Storr to help the fifth-seeded Badgers upset top-seeded Purdue 76-75 in overtime of the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday.

Player of the Game: Chucky Hepburn

Playing at what he estimated to be 85-percent, Hepburn was fantastic at both ends. He sent the game to overtime with a layup at the buzzer and then drew an offensive foul in the final 20 seconds of overtime to get the Badgers the ball back to get the game-winning score. He finished with a team-high 22 points on an extremely efficient 9-for-12 from the field, adding four assists and three steals. The junior was an absolute menace to deal with for first-team All-Big Ten guard Braden Smith, who had just seven points (3-for-10 shooting) and fouled out. It was, perhaps, the best all-around game from Hepburn this season.

The good: The fight

If nothing else, this Wisconsin team has grit. A lot of it. Foul trouble caused them to go deep into the bench with the likes of Carter Gilmore, Chris Hodges and Markus Ilver seeing minutes at important moments of the game. And they rose to the occasion, especially Gilmore, who played the most minutes (18) he had all year. He hit a key 3-pointer, was diving for loose balls and had a couple assists. With their best players on the bench, the Badgers could have wilted. Instead, Hepburn, Storr, Max Klesmit and a host of backups stepped up when needed.

The not so good: The officiating

Flat out, it was horrible. Three Wisconsin players — Steven Crowl, Tyler Wahl and Nolan Winter — fouled out, while Purdue lost Smith late in overtime. For the game, the two teams were called for 45 fouls, including 28 on the Badgers. That was a season-high and it led to a significant advantage at the foul line for Purdue. The Boilermakers took 32 attempts to the Badgers nine, with Zach Edey accounting for 19 of those for Purdue. The game was poorly officiated and that’s probably being nice.

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Stat of the Game: 12

That is how many points Max Klesmit put up, but it’s the stat of the game because of the final two. The junior curled around Hepburn with the ball, went to the hoop and laid a floater up that bounce around and eventually fell through for the winning bucket.

In Case You Missed It

— Hepburn and Wahl were both listed as questionable for the game due to injuries sustained earlier in the tournament. However, both started.

— Hepburn said he went through some exhaustive rehab after missing the Northwestern on Saturday. It included some dry needling into the back of his knee.

— Hepburn’s bucket to tie the game at the end of regulation came off the same play that Wisconsin used in the 2016 NCAA Tournament that ended with Bronson Koenig hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Xavier. Zak Showalter, who was also on the floor that night, pointed it out on social media and Koenig reacted.

— The game got off to a chippy start with officials hitting Crowl and Edey each with technical fouls following some pleasantries being exchanged after Edey had been called for a foul. It resulted in Edey picking up two fouls in the first 2:04 of the game and having to sit for an extended stretch.

— Wisconsin will be looking for its first Big Ten title since 2015. If the Badgers win, it will be the first time they’ve done it while having to play four games in four days.

What’s next?

Wisconsin (22-12) will face No. 2 seed Illinois (25-8) seed on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis with tipoff coming at 2:30p.