Following a dramatic loss to the Indiana Hoosiers, Wisconsin Badgers’ Head Coach Greg Gard questioned a critical foul call at the very end of the contest.
Wisconsin entered a difficult game against Indiana in Bloomington looking to secure a third-straight win ahead of an unforgiving stretch. The Badgers must play #5 Illinois, #10 Michigan State, and #12 Purdue to finish the regular season. A win against the Hoosiers would have given Wisconsin a boost before taking on back-to-back ranked opponents, but the result was the opposite on the court.
The Badgers and Hoosiers battled back-and-forth in the first-half of play before a strong comeback allowed Wisconsin to take a late second-half lead. Unfortunately, a costly foul on Andrew Rohde gave Indiana the chance to tie the game in regulation at the foul line. After doing so, Wisconsin could have lived with the call if the win was secured but a similar yet more serious situation occurred to conclude the game.
Guard Lamar Wilkerson, the same player who was fouled and converted his attempts to end regulation, drove down the left side of the lane with Badgers’ guard John Blackwell defending. Blackwell moved backwards as Wilkerson fell in the paint while turning away from the basket and the Hoosiers’ guard was awarded two attempts at the foul line. Both Blackwell and the entire Wisconsin bench were left stunned while the Indiana crowd roared. Wilkerson again converted both attempts which gave the Hoosiers what would be the game-winning lead.
Wisconsin Badgers’ Greg Gard: “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like That”
During the game, Wisconsin Head Coach Greg Gard was irate on the court after the foul was called on Blackwell in overtime. The coach was upset with the call and was caught on the broadcast giving the officials a piece of his mind directly after the call was made.
Following the conclusion of the game Gard spoke to the media and stated, “I’ve never seen anything like that. They tried fouling us three times up the floor. Then we get called driving away from the basket.”
Gard later added, “It’s a hard game to ref, but that wasn’t a hard call,” after speaking about the officiating and the late offensive foul on Nick Boyd. Wisconsin recorded 19 personal fouls while drawing 15 and converting 11-of-12 attempts at the foul line.
Wisconsin had multiple chances to close the door on the game both in regulation and in the overtime period but were unable to do so. The foul by Rohde could have been forgotten, but the Badgers failed to respond on offense before the final second-half buzzer. Wisconsin again had a chance to close the game in overtime but the offense was only able to put up five shots total between fouls and turnovers.
Indiana is a strong team but also arguably one of the easier teams left on the schedule this season for Wisconsin. The Badgers will now have to pull off a back-to-back stretch against two top-10 teams in the country which is certainly not ideal. Wisconsin will additionally play three of the five teams (Illinois, Michigan State, Purdue) currently sitting ahead in the Big Ten Conference standings.
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