STAT PACK: Valiant Effort Falls Short as Wisconsin Loses at No.23 Purdue
Even COVID couldn’t force the University of Wisconsin’s Mackey Arena demons to take a night off.
Another rough night shooting and some late lapses defensively cost No.25 Wisconsin a chance for a rare road win at Purdue, falling 73-69 to the Boilermakers Tuesday in West Lafayette, Ind.
Zach Edey scored a career-high 21 points and Jaden Ivey added 18 for the Boilermakers (17-8, 12-6 Big Ten), which shot 50 percent in the second half and pulled away over the final seven minutes to win their fifth straight home game in the series.
Brad Davison scored 15 points to lead five players in double figures for the Badgers (16-10, 10-9), which dropped to 4-42 all-time at Mackey Arena and hasn’t won at Purdue in over seven years.
We take a closer look at the game in the BadgerBlitz Stat Pack.
- In addition to Davison’s 15 points, Wisconsin got 11 points each from Aleem Ford, Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter. After scoring 29 points and single-handedly bringing Wisconsin back into the game Saturday against No.5 Illinois, guard D’Mitrik Trice finished with just 10 points on 2-for-10 shooting (2-for-8 from three).
- Wisconsin finished at 40.4 percent shooting (its seventh straight game shooting under 42 percent) and shot 24.1 percent from 3-point range (its seventh straight game shooting under 40 percent). The Badgers went 3-for-17 from 3-point range in the second half.
- Purdue outrebounded Wisconsin, 37-27, outscored UW’s bench (38-15) and points in the paint (36-20).
- Shaking off their notorious slow start, Wisconsin jumped out to a 10-3 run by getting production from the players who have struggled the most offensively. Ford and Davison each hit a 3-pointer, Reuvers scored in the paint and Davison hit two of his three foul shots. UW’s defense was suffocating, too, as Purdue had three shots and two turnovers through four-plus minutes.
- Wisconsin led by as many as eight in the opening minutes, but Purdue used a 10-0 run in a two-minute stretch to take their first lead. After the hot start, the Badgers missed eight of their next nine shots and then turned the ball over on consecutive possessions.
- The second of those turnovers was an offensive foul by Potter, his second foul that took him to the bench for the final 7:48. In his place was Reuvers, who came in registering career-lows offensively and played a season-low 15 minutes against Illinois. Reuvers responded with 15 minutes in the first half, made his first three shots and scored eight points on 4-for-6 shooting.
- The hot UW start eventually morphed into another prolonged slump for the Badgers, who missed seven consecutive 3-pointers after starting 3-for-3. The two-point shot was missing, too, as UW started 4-for-5 to build an eight-point lead but finished the half 7-for-21. Good news was Ford made a hanging layup with a second left on the clock to cut the deficit to two at halftime.
- Much like the first half, UW started strong and at one point made five of six shots to take a 40-39 lead. One of the big plays on the stretch was Reuvers hitting a turnaround, fade-away jumper while getting fouled.
- After Jonathan Davis’s layup gave Wisconsin the lead, the Badgers didn’t make their next field goal until 7 minutes, 28 seconds of game time passed. UW was 6-for-17 from the floor and 1-for-8 from 3-point range when Tyler Wahl made his basket, but the game was tied with 7:24 to go because UW was 11-for-15 from the free throw line to that point.
- Wisconsin finished 16-for-21 from the free throw line, the most free throws UW had attempted and made since the January 15 win at Rutgers.
- As good as UW was defensively throughout the night, the Badgers lost their edge down the stretch with Purdue scoring 15 points on the next eight possessions after the Badgers had tied the game. That scoring burst gave them a 67-64 lead with 2:14 remaining.
- Trice had a chance to tie the score with a minute remaining, but the senior tried to hit a contested 3-pointer that guard Aaron Wheeler got a piece of. To make matters worse, forward Trevion Williams (9 pts, 7 rbds) beat Reuvers in the low post for a powerful dunk on the opposite end to push the lead to five.
- Trice hit a 3-pointer on the next trip down the floor to cut the deficit to two with 28.4 seconds left and burned their last timeout. Purdue hit two free throws to go back up four, and Davison’s off-balanced shot was well off to seal their fate with 14.1 seconds left.
- Wisconsin closes the regular season Sunday at No.5 Iowa. Tip off is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.