Second-half disaster

MADISON, Wis. -- After defeating Michigan last Wednesday at Assembly Hall, it seemed as though the Hoosiers had regained some of their confidence. \nThey talked about their elevated intensity on defense and their improved execution on offense. It was just a matter of proving that they could do those same things on the road, where they had yet to win a Big Ten game. \nThat quest began on Saturday against Wisconsin, who had yet to lose a conference home game. \nIt appeared as though the Hoosiers (15-9, 5-6 Big Ten) had found their niche against the Badgers heading into the locker room at halftime with a 29-21 lead.\nThe second half was an entirely different story however as Wisconsin outscored IU 50-30 en route to a 71-59 victory.\nThe Badgers exploded for an 11-0 run to begin the second period which was one of the major things coach Mike Davis said factored into the loss.\n"We gave up four straight possessions," he said. "Defensively we just relaxed. We got two easy shots during that stretch. We missed two lay-ups -- (senior forward Jeff) Newton missed one and (junior guard/forward A.J.) Moye missed one. It was a situation where they made shots, and we didn't play very good defense." \nThe Wisconsin run began when sophomore guard Devin Harris hit a three on the wing that cut IU's lead to five. After Moye traveled in the post on the other end, sophomore forward Mike Wilkinson knocked down another three. \nNewton attempted to get the Hoosiers on the board but missed on a lay-up attempt as well as the put-back.\nFreshman forward Alando Tucker then hit a lay-up while being fouled by Newton and converted the free-throw attempt to give Wisconsin their first lead of the game at 30-29.\nHarris then intercepted a pass from Newton and brought the ball back down the floor and hit a jump shot to put the Badgers up 32-29.\n"We just got back to basics and said this is what we do and what we do well," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said of his team's second-half resurgence. "If you want to take care of business, it's a new game here, the next. The Hoosiers finally got on the board on the next possession when Moye scored on a driving lay-up. \nThe lead remained at three points for the next three minutes of play as the Hoosiers and Badgers exchanged baskets on nearly every possession.\nBut Wisconsin began to pull away with 11 minutes to go in the game. IU went on a three-minute scoring drought in which the Badgers scored eight unanswered points. \nNewton, who finished the game with his second straight double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds), and freshman point guard Marshall Strickland attempted to keep IU in the game, accounting for 13 of the Hoosiers' final 18 points.\nThe Hoosiers would not regain the lead and Davis' frustration boiled over with 44 seconds left in the game when Newton picked up his fifth foul.\nDavis said he told the referee who called the foul that "he's getting old."\nThat earned Davis a techincal.\nAfter senior guard Kirk Penney knocked down the technical shots, Wilkinson sank his foul shots to put the Badgers up by 11.\nBehind the strong play of Moye and Strickland, who combined to score 13 of IU's first 15 points, the Hoosiers jumped out to an early lead, which they held for the entire first half.\nThe Badgers kept it close however. They were never down by more than seven points and with just over seven minutes to go in the half, put together a run to threaten the Hoosiers lead.\nPenney knocked down another three to bring the Badgers within one, but that was as close as they would get, as IU put together an 8-1 run to end the half with a 29-21 lead.\nFreshman guard Bracey Wright, who finished with six points and five rebounds, said the team became too complacent in the second half.\n"I think it's where we're not used to winning," he said. "We played good in the first half, and we were thinking they were going to probably lay down for us. But we came in at halftime and said we've got to play two halves, we just didn't do it"