Indiana muscled through two overtime periods to upset No. 19 Wisconsinon Tuesday night, breaking a five-game losing streak in front of its home fans with a 75-73 win at Assembly Hall. Romeo Langford scored the game-winner for the Hoosiers with 0.8 seconds remaining in the second overtime.
R😍ME😍!@yeahyeah_22 sent the Hoosiers home happy with a game-winning bucket in Double OT for @IndianaMBB: pic.twitter.com/HkmUWCD9JJ
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 27, 2019
Wisconsin falls to 19-9 with the loss, while Indiana moves to 14-14 with its first win since Feb. 2. Indiana had the game's largest lead at 13 with 12:40 remaining in regulation before Wisconsin came storming back on a 20-3 run. The teams muscled through a low-scoring regulation and gutted through extremely low-scoring extra periods to decide the final result.
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Here are three takeaways from the game.
Indiana played tough in the search for its third win of 2019
Indiana's January and February schedules were full of red, as the Hoosiers came into the game at 2-12 since the calendar turned. One of those wins was over a top-10 Michigan State team on the road in overtime. Archie Miller's team put up a similar effort on Tuesday.
Four players scored in double digits for the Hoosiers, who spread their attack around evenly. Langford was the team's top scorer with 22 points, 13 of which came in regulation.
The Hoosiers led at halftime, and though they never created much separation, they were able to stick around all night. They did so by limiting Wisconsin's offense in a plodding game that featured multiple reviewed calls late and two offenses that hovered around the 40-percent mark from the field all night. Of course, Wisconsin was able to do the same thing to Indiana, and that's why this game just kept going.
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This was a predictable occurrence for an Indiana team facing one of the best defenses in college basketball. The Badgers ranked fifth in Ken Pomeroy's defensive efficiency going into the game, and are adept at preventing easy looks.
Ethan Happ scored the most, but D'Mitrik Trice got Wisconsin to overtime
Ethan Happ has been the Badgers' MVP again this season. That was mostly true again Tuesday night, as he was Wisconsin's leading scorer with 23 points, even as Indiana swarmed him down low. Khalil Iverson was the Badgers' second-best offensive threat with 15 points. Beyond those two, no Wisconsin player had more than six points in regulation.
Trice finished with 12 points, and Wisconsin might not have made it to either overtime without him. Trice hit two crucial free throws to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation, and made this clutch 3-pointer near the end of the first overtime period.
Double OT thanks to D'Mitrik TrICE ❄️ @BadgerMBBpic.twitter.com/p7uWoesV7P
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) February 27, 2019
Wisconsin's chances at getting a first-round bye in the conference tournament are getting slimmer
The top four seeds in the Big Ten tournament get a first-round bye. Wisconsin entered the game fifth in the conference. The Badgers are now one game behind Maryland with three to play.
This loss means Wisconsin could have to play one of the Big Ten's best teams before the conference tournament gets to the weekend.
