Indiana had not ventured away from Bloomington during its 8-0 start to the 2019-20 season.
After a long afternoon in Madison, the Hoosiers can’t get back home fast enough.
Indiana guard Al Durham made a pair of free throws to give IU a quick 2-0 lead to open the game. That would be the only lead the Hoosiers held at the Kohl Center, a place that Indiana has not won since 1998 as they lost their 17th straight contest on Wisconsin’s home court.
Moments later Wisconsin went on a 14-0 run — and the Badgers never looked back. The Wisconsin lead would swell to 20 by halftime and as much as 30 during the second half as Indiana had no answers.
“We weren’t very good, and Wisconsin had a lot to do with it, Indiana head coach Archie Miller said after the game.
“Our team did not play well on either end of the floor. Sometimes that happens to groups early in the season, you’re on the road in a conference environment against a conference team.”
Coming into the game averaging 85.6 points per game, Indiana was held to just 64 on Saturday. But the real problems came on the other end of the floor.
Wisconsin shot 53.6 percent from the field overall including 40 percent from three-point range. Perhaps more impressive, the Badgers had just four turnovers on the day while accumulating 13 assists against an Indiana defense that seemed a step slow throughout.
“We knew we were going to deal with a sharp group that was ready, and they were,” Miller. “Very sharp offensively, we didn’t have a whole lot of resistance.”
Wisconsin’s biggest weapon offensively was 6-foot-4 sophomore guard Kobe King.
After averaging only 10.4 points coming into the game, King torched the Hoosiers with a career high 24 points on 10-15 from the field in 29 minutes of action.
Versatile Badger forward Nate Reuvers added 20 points as he consistently created mismatch issues for Indiana’s big men.
Durham led Indiana with 17, while Justin Smith and Devonte Green each added 10 for the Hoosiers.
While Indiana’s upperclassmen led the team in scoring, they didn’t necessarily provide everything that Miller is looking for from the veterans on his roster.
“The thing that I took away most importantly, was where we’re at from a leadership standpoint, where we’re at from a group standpoint from our resolve,” Miller said. “Throughout the course of the game, we had a quiet group today, all the way around. I’ve got to do a better job of finding ways to continue to get them to use their voices to each other.”
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
Playing against a Wisconsin team that averaged 52 points over their last three games while shooting 14-of-76 from beyond the arc, or 18.4 percent, IU let the Badgers have their way offensively. In the decisive first half, Wisconsin scored 47 points on 62.5 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from deep.
For the game, Indiana shot just 42 percent from the field, well down from their 56.9 percent clip for the season.
Despite Indiana coming into the game ranked No. 5 in the country in rebounding margin, Wisconsin won the battle of the boards 29-28 in this one.
UP NEXT:
Indiana travels to New York for a neutral site matchup with Connecticut in connection with the Jimmy V Classic. The game tips of at 9 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden.
GAME NOTES:
Sophomore point guard Rob Phinisee sat out for the fourth straight game with an ankle injury.
See more: Final stats and highlights
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