No. 20 Wisconsin’s losing streak has reached three games following an 86-80 setback at Illinois on Tuesday night.

The Badgers held a 25-21 advantage with 8:57 left in the first half but didn’t score for nearly five minutes, helping the Illini build at 39-35 lead at the break. Wisconsin would challenge in the second half, closing to within four multiple times but eventually wilted in what became a ninth straight loss to Illinois.

Nolan Winter finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Max Klesmit had 13 points and four assists. John Blackwell added 10 points as the Badgers fell to 8-3 after an 8-0 start to the season. They also dropped to 0-2 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2002-2003.

Illinois got 24 points from Kasparas Jakucionis and Tre White put up 23 points as coach Brad Underwood’s team evened its record in conference play at 1-1.

The Illini largely contained Wisconsin’s leading scorer in John Tonje. He finished with a season-low tying 14 points after coming in averaging 21.5 per game. The transfer had made a living of getting to the foul line this season but saw just two trips to the stripe. As a team, Wisconsin shot 21 free throws despite being in the bonus for the final 15:32 of the game.

Wisconsin will now step back from conference play for its next two games — at Indianapolis against Butler this Saturday and a home matchup with Detroit Mercy — before re-opening its Big Ten schedule against Iowa on Jan. 3.