On, Wisconsin to victory over Hoosiers

By Nick Jenkinson\Excel H Sports

The #7 Excel H Sports Ranked Wisconsin Badgers beat the Indiana Hoosiers 91-79 Friday Night at the Khol Center in Madison. Wisconsin is now 20-1 all time at the Khol Center against the Hoosiers and are 33-11 since 2000 as Indiana still leads the all-time series 97-81. Wisconsin has won six of the last seven meetings dating back to 2019 and the Hoosiers have not won in Madison since January 25, 1998, 69-59. That Hoosier team included Andre Patterson and A J Guyton.

Indiana is now 12-7 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten and travels to Illinois Next Saturday Afternoon. While Wisconsin improves to 14-4 and 6-1 in the Big Ten and travels to Minnesota on Tuesday.

Malik Reneau led the Hoosiers with 28 points and 8 rebounds, Mackenzie Mgbako added 17 points along with 10 points from Trey Galloway. Sophomore Center Kel’el Ware was out with a lower leg injury and Senior Anthony Leal was unavailable for the second straight game. Payton Sparks got his second career start as Hoosier scoring 7 points, Gabe Cupps added 7 points and committed 2 turnovers. Xavier Johnson scored 8 points and did not commit a turnover. Anthony Walker added 2 points and C.J. Gunn did not scored and was ejected for flagrant two foul in the second half against Wisconsin’s Max Klesmit for elbowing him the face after Klesmit leaned his head into Gunn’s chest during and inbounds play. The Hoosiers have had 2 ejections and 4 total flagrant fouls called in the last three games.

Indiana finished 28-52 from the field for 53%, 6-14 from three-point range for 43% and 17-21 from the free throw line for 81%. The Hoosiers had 23 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks and committed 10 turnovers. The Hoosiers are 2-6 away from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with a 1-4 record in true road games and 1-2 in neutral site games with six road games left in the Big Ten. Many Hoosiers fans are wondering what this team’s identity along with toughness and leadership.

Wisconsin got 26 points from Max Klesmit, 15 Points from AJ Storr and 12 points apiece from Steven Crowl and John Blackwell. The Badgers finished 28-47 for 59% from the field, 10-21 from three-point range for 47% and 25-29 from the free throw line for 86%. Wisconsin pulled down 25 rebounds, dished out 14 assists, 8 steals, no blocks and committed 9 turnovers. The 91 points is the most the Badgers have scored since the opening game of the season when they put up 105 on Arkansas State. Wisconsin has scored over 70 points in 16 games this season including the last 12. The Badgers scored 65 against Virginia and 69 against SMU in a Thanksgiving tournament in Fort Meyers, Florida.

The Hoosiers jumped out to a 4-0 lead 59 seconds into the ball game with a Malik Reneau layup and two Mackenize Mgbako free throws. Chucky Hepburn got the Badgers on the board 1:14 into the game with a three pointer. The Hoosiers led 10-8 before Wisconsin took its first lead at the 13:14 mark when AJ Storr hit a three pointer to make it 11-10. Payton Sparks scored on a layup to make it 12-11 at the 12:50 mark. Wisconsin went on a 7-0 run and never trailed the rest of the game as the Badgers led 39-26 at halftime.

The Hoosiers outscored the Badgers 53-52 in the second half. Indiana used a 7-0 run capped by a Payton Sparks dunk to cut the lead to seven 49-42 at the 14:58 mark. Wisconsin went on a 7-0 run to led by 14 points with 14 minutes left in the game. The Badgers led by 23 67-44 with 11:23 left in the game. Indiana cut the lead to ten points 86-76 with 1:22 left but could get no closer as the Hoosiers drop their second straight game and now have a week in between games to rest up and regroup for a tough stretch of games in one of the toughest conferences in the country.