CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Tyler Wahl watched his Wisconsin teammates warm up from the padded seats next to the State Farm Center floor and took his seat at the end of the bench, dressed head to toe in his warmups and a walking boot encasing his right foot. He was powerless to help the Badgers and his teammates appeared out of sync without him.
A matchup of last year’s co-conference champions turned ugly in the second half, as Illinois dominated the opening five minutes and kept No.14 Wisconsin at an arm’s length during a 79-69 victory Saturday afternoon.
It was the first conference loss of the season for the Badgers (11-3, 3-1 Big Ten), which saw its six-game winning streak snapped by its inability to change momentum or stop Terrence Shannon Jr. (24 points) or forward Coleman Hawkins (career-high 20).
Chucky Hepburn and Steven Crowl led Wisconsin with 22 and 20, respectively, but the duo scored 34 of their points after Illinois took a 13-point lead early in the second half. Illinois also made sure to smother freshman Connor Essegian (five points) and limited Wisconsin’s shorten bench to seven.
UW had multiple attempts to pressure Illinois after the initial surge but couldn’t make a dent in the deficit without its perimeter game. The Badgers finished 8-for-29 from the perimeter and struggled to get to the foul line, finishing 5-for-12 for its worst percentage (41.7) this season.
Illinois (10-5, 1-3) was humbled at Northwestern Wednesday, being limited to 39.7 percent from the floor, 28.6 percent from three-point range, and outshot by 30 at the free-throw line. That last number is the most shocking considering the Wildcats were 169th in the country in free-throw attempts.
The Illini corrected those problems against the Badgers, particularly in the second half. Illinois made six straight shots and nine of 10 during one stretch, shooting 54.5 percent from the floor and 60.0 percent from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.
Wisconsin played without Wahl, its leading scorer (13.2), second-leading rebounder (6.4), and most versatile defender because of an ankle injury suffered Tuesday. A team with few forwards as it is, UW heavily rode starters Crowl and Carter Gilmore (four points), saw sophomore Markus Ilver (2 pts, 1-for-6) set a career-high in minutes in the first half and put freshman Chris Hodges (1 rbd) in his first Big Ten game.
Illinois took a 30-27 lead into the locker room on the heels of an 11-3 run to close the half, a sprint that largely came with Crowl on the bench with two fouls. UW’s usually tight eight-man rotation expanded to nine in the first half as head coach Greg Gard negotiated Wahl’s absence and foul trouble.
UW had everyone available to start the second half, minus Wahl, but saw its 1-for-6 start put them in an uphill climb for the rest of the game.
Star of the game: Averaging 9.3 points per game, Illinois junior forward Coleman Hawkins delivered a career-high 20 points and did his damage from the perimeter by draining six of nine three-pointers.
Stat of the game: Since having its 15 consecutive wins against Illinois snapped in 2020, the Badgers have dropped five straight to the Illini. It’s UW’s longest losing streak in the series since losing 16 straight from 1981-89.
Reason to be Concerned: Can Wisconsin create offense when its three-point shot isn’t falling? The Badgers ranked second in the Big Ten and 26th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (38.2) but never got things going from the perimeter in an 8-for-29 shooting performance. Perhaps it’s the rims at the State Farm Center? One year ago, UW was 3-for-24 (12.5 percent) in its road loss to Illinois.
Don’t overlook: Wisconsin had a chance to cut a 13-point deficit down to four but a Jordan Davis airball three-pointer led to a transition three-pointer by Matthew Meyer that pushed the deficit back to 10. Meyer scored all xx of his points in the second half.
What’s next: Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center to host Michigan State (6 p.m./ESPN). Since opening conference play with a home loss to Northwestern, the Spartans (11-4, 3-1 Big Ten) have won six straight and are coming off a home rivalry win against Michigan. Tom Izzo has four players averaging in double figures, including graduate student, and Wisconsin native, Joey Hauser. Gard’s 4-10 record against the Spartans is his worst among any Big Ten school, but UW won the most recent meeting last February in East Lansing. Tuesday will be the only regular-season meeting between the schools.
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