Dominating the Rivalry: Wisconsin Basketball vs. Indiana

The hiring of then-Milwaukee head coach Bo Ryan yielded little fanfare outside the city of Madison.

Other than an improbable run to the Final Four in 2000, there had been few bright spots since the Badgers hung their 1947 Big Ten championship banner. Not only were there no Big Ten titles over that 54-year stretch, but Wisconsin also had four times as many losing seasons (32) as top-four finishes in the league (eight). There were just four NCAA tournament appearances, including 47 straight seasons without one.

So, when Dick Bennett abruptly retired in November 2000, he took with him some of the excitement as the Badgers stumbled to a 13-loss season and a first-round upset. Ryan and associate head coach Greg Gard didn’t wait long to change the culture.

Winning back-to-back Big Ten titles in their first two seasons, the Badgers have been dominant in winning 71 percent of its games during Ryan’s 14 seasons as head coach and in the last six-plus seasons under Gard (502-205 through Feb.14). UW has won eight Big Ten titles, appeared in 18 of the last 19 NCAA tournaments, and advanced to two Final Fours.

Since Ryan and Gard arrived, Wisconsin has the most Big Ten wins and the best winning percentage in the conference at 251-117 (.682) and has flipped many conference rivalries that had long been one-sided affairs.

Over the course of this Big Ten season, BadgerBlitz will examine Wisconsin’s series with the 13 other conference teams, what it was before Ryan and Gard arrived, what the series looks like now, and some memorable moments along the way.

Today, we look at Wisconsin’s series with Rutgers.

RELATED: Iowa | Maryland | Ohio State | Northwestern | Michigan State | Nebraska | Illinois | Penn State | Rutgers |

Pre 2001-02: Indiana led 91-49

Since 2001-02: Wisconsin leads 29-6

Ryan’s Record vs. Indiana: 20-4 (7-3 in Bloomington, 2-1 neutral)

Gard’s Record vs. Indiana: 9-2 (2-2 in Bloomington, 1-0 neutral)

Record when both teams were ranked: Ryan 5-0; Gard 1-0

When Wisconsin was ranked, Indiana was not: Ryan 9-2, Gard 5-1

When Indiana was ranked, Wisconsin was not: Ryan 3-0, Gard 1-0

When both teams were unranked: Ryan 3-2, Gard 2-1

Wisconsin struggled against multiple Big Ten programs in the years leading up to the new millennium, but there was no program the Badgers suffered more frustrations against than the Hoosiers. It wasn’t always that way, not with UW winning 18 of the first 21 meetings and leading the series, 35-15, entering the 1950s.

But from a 61-59 Indiana win in Bloomington in January 1950 until January 2000, the Hoosiers went 74-12 (86.0 percent) against UW, which included a 31-game losing streak from 1980 until a 71-58 victory over No.12 Indiana in 1994 (UW jumped out to a 17-0 lead to the delight of fans at the UW Field House).

Three bright spots on that ugly stretch were Ken Barnes scoring a school-record 42 points, along with 23 rebounds, in a 92-73 loss on March 8, 1965. That record stood until Michael Finley matched it in 1994. Almost seven years later, the Badgers knocked off No.17 Indiana, 66-64 in overtime, for just UW’s second road win over a ranked foe in the previous 16 years.

Indiana’s dominance over that stretch coincided with Bob Knight leading them to three of the school’s five national titles. The Badgers only had six games decided by one possession during those 31 games, two coming in overtime and the Badgers taking the eventual national champions to triple overtime in 1987.

Under Ryan: Behind Charlie Willis’ 17 points, the Badgers defeated the Hoosiers, 64-63, in Bloomington. The victory was the first for UW at Assembly Hall since 1977, a span of 22 games. It wouldn’t be the last. UW won in Indiana on its next trip, sandwiched between two home wins, for consecutive road victories for the first time since 1944 and 1948.

After losing three of five from 2005 to 2007, the latter when the Badgers were ranked No.2 in the country and the Hoosiers fans storm the court. That would be their last celebration against UW for seven years, as the Badgers won the next 12 games in the series and did it by an average of 12.8 points.

When UW beat Indiana in the second round of the 2012 Big Ten Tournament, Ryan passed Harold “Bud” Foster for the most wins (266) in program history. In the conference tournament a year later, UW knocked off No.3 Indiana to win consecutive games in consecutive days against AP Top-5 schools.

The Hoosiers got to storm the court a year later in a 75-72 victory at Assembly Hall, ending UW’s 16-0 start to the season, but the Badgers won the final two meetings with Ryan on the sideline.

In the eight meetings Ryan faced a ranked Indiana team, the Badgers were 8-0. UW was 2-26 at Assembly Hall before Ryan arrived. Ryan went 7-3 in the building, including knocking off the Hoosiers, 64-59, in 2013 when Indiana was ranked No.2. That win marked the fifth straight road win in the series. No other visiting team has won more than three straight games at Assembly Hall.

Under Gard: In Gard’s first meeting as head coach of the series, Wisconsin went 9-for-25 in the second half but Indiana didn’t register its two-point win until 38 seconds remained in the game. There would be a number of those games in the coming years, with eight decided by seven points or fewer, but with a different result.

UW won in overtime later this season, one of three extra-session games between the two schools with Gard as the coach (2-1), and each of the next five games. After a double-overtime road loss in 2019, one of which the Badgers erased a 13-point second-half deficit in the second half but went 2-for-10 in the extra sessions, UW has won the last four games in the series.

One of the more emotional wins was Wisconsin’s 60-56 victory at Indiana to end the season. The victory, which happened by overcoming a 51-44 deficit with 6:52 remaining, gave the Badgers their eighth straight win, earned a share of the Big Ten title, and capped an emotional season that was dedicated to former assistant coach Howard Moore and his family following a spring car crash that killed his wife and daughter.

The last two wins haven’t been as emotional but equally exciting. D’Mitrik Trice delivered a pair of clutch shots to force overtime (a runner in the lane with 21 seconds) and double overtime (step-back jumper with 11.1) among his 21 points and Tyler Wahl hit consecutive 3-pointers in double overtime that helped spark an 8-0 run in an 80-73 victory in a crowd-less Kohl Center.

And of course, there was this year’s Big Ten opener when Wisconsin – down 22 points in the first half – closed the game on an 11-0 run to stun Indiana at home. It was tied for the largest comeback in school history, as UW got points from seven different players in the second half and the Hoosiers collapsed down the stretch with misses on 14 of their last 15 shots.

Wisconsin has now won 19 straight games over the Hoosiers in Madison, spanning 23 years.

Overall, Ryan/Gard went 6-2 against Mike Davis, 2-1 against Kelvin Sampson, 16-2 against Tom Crean, 4-1 against Archie Miller, and 1-0 against Mike Woodson.

Former Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan on his team’s success against Indiana

“Our record against them is unbelievable. Sometimes it’s the style of the team. If somebody wants to get out and run, like Michigan State, Indiana, and different coaches at different times at the other schools, we were able to counter that. If we had an opportunity fast-break wise we took it, but if we didn’t, you’re going to have to guard us. We’re going to change sides of the floor with the ball, and you’re going to have to be disciplined.

"Sometimes the style of play of a team plays right into your hands, but that isn’t because I’m criticizing somebody else’s coaching. Sometimes there are better matchups based on a team’s strength opposed to another team’s strength. We had so many close games with them, too, and people who attended our practices know how fanatical I was about up two with a minute to go or down two, tied, how many timeouts we had left, I think that really helped.”

There are so many games to pick from here that would bring back joyful memories. The most recent wins for Wisconsin should certainly be high on that list, as well some of the victories by Wisconsin when Crean was the head coach and Indiana was ranked.

There’s great individual performances, too, like Jordan Taylor scoring 39 points – including 17 straight in the second half – in a 77-67 win in 2011, the third-highest scoring game in UW history at the time, and one point from the Assembly Hall opponent record. There also was senior Rob Wilson – making his second career start and averaging 3.1 points – making seven 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 30 points that gave Ryan win No.266.

But in a game that happened 14 years ago yesterday that charted the course for Wisconsin’s third regular-season Big Ten title under Ryan, senior Brian Butch banked in a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left to give No.14 Wisconsin a 68-66 victory over No.13 Indiana.

Jason Bohannon had 18 points on six 3-pointers and Michael Flowers had 15, including three 3s, in a game that featured 17 lead changes and six ties. There were seven lead changes in the final 96 seconds, the last one coming on a mistake. Trailing by one, Butch and Marcus Landry botched a handoff outside the three-point arc. Knowing time was running out, Butch took aim, fired, and banked it in. Indiana’s three-point heave when off the back iron, and UW’s five players collided with its bench players in a jovial jumping pile at center court.

“We did not diagram the bank,” Ryan joked. “I don't think any of our other guys would have banked it.”

It capped a miserable day for Indiana, which in the hours before tipoff announced a report from the NCAA that accused coach Kelvin Sampson of committing five "major" rules violations. Sampson accepted a buyout nine days later.

The victory moved UW into a first-place tie in the Big Ten and they would stay there the remainder of the season, winning its final seven regular-season games to claim the outright Big Ten title. UW would run the winning streak to 12 before losing in the Sweet 16 to Davidson.

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