MADISON, Wis. - With a clear path to an extra day of rest before conference tournament play began, the only thing the University of Wisconsin needed to do was to beat a Penn State team whose season was over and who had never won at the Kohl Center.

It turned out that was just the team the Badgers needed to be the most afraid of.

Playing with nothing to lose after being eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament, Penn State outshot, out defended, and simply outplayed No.12 Wisconsin in the second half to register an 86-75 victory in the regular season finale Saturday afternoon.

Four starters and five players reached double figures for the Nittany Lions (16-15, 6-14 Big Ten), which started its Big Ten season by beating No.8 Purdue at home and ended it by registering their biggest road win over a ranked opponent since February 1, 2009 at No.9 Michigan State.

The win also ended the longest active road losing streak in the Big Ten of 22 games, as Penn State won in Madison for the first time since winning at the UW Field House in January 1995.

John Blackwell and Steven Crowl each had 19 points to lead Wisconsin (23-8, 13-7), which now awaits its seeding and the ripple effects of ending the regular season with its worst loss of the year.

A win would have guaranteed Wisconsin no worse than the No.4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, earning a coveted double bye that will start their postseason next Friday from Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Now, baring several dominoes again falling in their favor, UW will begin play on Thursday in the second round.

Wisconsin twice led by 13 in the first half, including starting the game on a 16-3 run, and limited Penn State to a point per possession. However, seven turnovers and nine consecutive misses to end the half limited its lead to 40-35 at the break.

The issues spilled over into the second half. UW started 3-for-10, Penn State attacked the paint (six points) and hit from the perimeter (3-for-6) and executed a 24-7 run to take a 51-47 lead with 15:35 remaining.

Crowl's putback dunk and three-pointer from the top of the key sparked a 9-2 run to give Wisconsin a 60-59 lead with 8:52 remaining, but Penn State hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions to spark a 10-2 run for its largest lead of the game at 69-62.

Eight straight UW points scored by Blackwell cut the deficit to 72-70 entering the final media timeout, but the Badgers got no closer after scoring only one point on their next five possessions.

What it means: Instead of an extra day of rest to get some injured players back into the fold, Wisconsin heads into the Big Ten Tournament with an ugly home defeat after being outplayed by a team with zero postseason aspirations.

Star of the game: Averaging 7.9 points per game, D'Marco Dunn scored a game and career high 25 points on 10-for-12 shooting. The senior was 4-for-5 from three, had four assists to one turnover, and added three rebounds.

Stat of the game: With Nolan Winter apparently injured on a put-back dunk, limiting him to just five minutes, Penn State outrebounded Wisconsin by five in the second half and scored 24 of its 38 points in the paint after halftime.

Reason to be Concerned: Wisconsin's offense has started regressing over the past week, which is not encouraging when entering the critical postseason period. After an ugly shooting performance at Michigan State and barely averaging over a point per possession at Minnesota to start the week, the Badgers missed 12 consecutive shots during one stretch, shot 36.2 percent overall, and 28.6 percent in the second half.

Don’t overlook: Wisconsin's reserves were just 2-for-11 from the floor with eight fouls and five turnovers.

What’s next: Wisconsin will make its 25th appearance in the Big Ten Tournament and are looking for its fourth tournament championship. Seeding will be finalized tomorrow, but the Badgers will be either the No.4 or No.3 seed. UW is 28-21 overall in the tournament and lost to Illinois in the conference championship game last March.

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