Wisconsin Badgers let game they should have won slip away against Michigan State

MADISON – This was a game Greg Gard’s team could have and should have won.

Wisconsin played well for most of the night despite not having senior forward Tyler Wahl for the second consecutive game but Michigan State dominated UW down the stretch to steal a 69-65 victory Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.

The Spartans outscored UW, 15-6, over the final 3 minutes 53 seconds to wipe out a 59-54 deficit.

“We should have been able to close that out,” said Steven Crowl, whose basket with 4:11 left gave UW the 59-54 lead. “And that’s on all of us. It’s not one or two people. All of us did little things down the stretch that didn’t help us.

"Yea, I do think we should have won the game."

The Badgers (11-4, 3-2 Big Ten) suffered their second consecutive loss this season and lost at home to Michigan State for the second consecutive season.

As a result, UW dropped out of a four-way tie for second place in the league. UW and Rutgers (11-5, 3-2) are tied behind Purdue (15-1, 4-1), Michigan State (12-4, 4-1), Northwestern (12-3, 3-1) and Michigan (9-6, 3-1).

UW suffered the loss despite a 27-2 edge in points off turnovers and outscoring the Spartans, 30-26, in the paint.

How did the Badgers fall?

Michigan State hit its final eight field-goal attempts, beginning with a basket by Tyson Walker with 8:42 remaining.

BOX SCORE: Michigan State 69, Wisconsin 65

The Spartans scored 17 points on their final 10 possessions; the Badgers hit just 2 of their final 6 shots.

"Didn’t execute the last 10 possessions of the game, on both ends of the floor," Gard said, "like we have in the past."

There were two pivotal sequences late.

UW held a 59-58 lead when Connor Essegian shook free of Walker and got an open three-pointer at the top of the key.

He missed and the Spartans grabbed the rebound with 2:39 left.

Michigan State came down and Joey Hauser got away from Carter Gilmore, who never made it through a baseline screen from Mady Sissoko (six points, 11 rebounds). Hauser buried the three-pointer on the right wing for a 61-59 Michigan State lead with 2:20 left.

Then after A.J. Hoggard hit his second consecutive basket over Crowl to give the Spartans a 65-63 lead with 41.7 seconds left, Hepburn pushed the ball up the court and launched a three-pointer from the right wing with 34 seconds left.

"The last possession I was just thinking get a quick shot," said Hepburn, who stared at the stat sheet for most of the post-game interview session.

As he watched the play develop, Gard tried to call a timeout in an attempt to get Essegian in the game and set up a play.

"I was trying to call a timeout when it went in the air," Gard said.

Too late.

Did he want a different shot than the one Hepburn took?

"Yea," Gard said.

Hauser scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead four players in double figures for the Spartans. He hit 6 of 8 shots and 6 of 6 free throws to help the Spartans shoot 94.1% from the free-throw line (16 of 17) and 52.3% from the field (23 of 44).

"Joey Hauser played really well," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said of the Stevens Point High School graduate.

Walker hit two free throws with 12.6 seconds left to close the scoring and finished with 13 points. Jaden Akins added 12 points and Hoggard added 11, including six in the final 1:22, and eight assists.

"Hoggard made plays," Gard said. "That is what good, experienced players do."

Walker, Akins and Hauser combined to hit 7 of 10 three-pointers.

Malik Hall scored only eight points, but four came on consecutive possessions to cut UW's lead to 59-58.

"We went into Malik," Izzo said, "and Malik answered."

UW didn't have enough answers.

Crowl hit just 2 of 7 shots in the opening half but carried UW after halftime. He hit 7 of 10 shots after halftime and finished with 19 points, three rebounds and two assists. Hepburn added 14 points, five assists and two steals but hit just 2 of 6 three-pointers and 4 of 11 shots overall and had three turnovers.

"I shot 4 of 11," Hepburn said, staring at the state sheet. "That’s not the best."

Essegian added 13, but only three after halftime after the Spartans gave Walker the defensive assignment.

"We said 'guard him,'" Izzo said.

Max Klesmit added seven points but hit just 1 of 5 three-pointers. Gilmore and Markus Ilver each finished with five points and one rebound in trying to fill in for Wahl. Jordan Davis had a quiet night and missed his only two shots. He had three rebounds and a steal.

The Badgers played better overall Tuesday without Wahl than they did in the 10-point loss Saturday at Illinois. But they were outscored, 6-2, in the opening four minutes and by 15-6 in the final four minutes.

"We’ve got to find a way to be a more complete team at the start and at the end," Gard said, "and it’s both ends of the floor...

"We had a chance to have success here against a very good team."

A chance they let slip away.

A Twitter List by journalsentinel

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers basketball team lets game it should have won slip away