Say cheese, Illini fans. As in Limburger . . .
The last time Illinois opened a Big Ten basketball season 0-6 was 1911-12. Any way you look at it that’s a long, long time ago.
Almost as long as the Illini’s 75-53 loss to Wisconsin at the Kohl Center seemed Wednesday night.
That 1911-12 club somehow battled back to take fifth in the league. This year’s in-over-its-head Illinois team (8-10, 0-6), which lost its eighth of nine games, will be lucky to avoid dead last.
After nearly upsetting Michigan State on Saturday, the embarrassing showing Wednesday was a step backward for Lon Kruger’s young squad.
Sean Mason got in foul trouble and scored only seven points for Wisconsin, but Jon Bryant with 17 points and Mark Vershaw with 14 picked up the slack. The 15th-ranked Badgers (17-3, 5-2) shot a traditionally un-Wisconsin-like 53 percent from the floor to claim their fifth straight win. Wisconsin is off to its best start since 1941. Cory Bradford paced Illinois with 18 points.
“Wisconsin had good control,” Kruger said. “The latter part of the first half they did what they wanted. Wisconsin is tough. They wore us down and we kind of gave in offensively. You can’t do that–and we did.”
“I thought our weaknesses might hold us back more than they have this year,” Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. “So I’m very pleased. I’m also very thankful.”
Wisconsin’s league-leading defense was limiting opponents to 55 points per game and in the first half the Badgers gave every indication they intended to improve that number by holding the Illini without a field goal during a 6 minute-12 second span.
Between a three-pointer by Bradford with 8:15 to go and a three-point play by Robert Archibald at the 2:03 mark, Wisconsin outscored Illinois 12-3 to turn a 19-16 lead into a 31-19 bulge.
In the first half, the Badgers were led by Vershaw’s eight points and shot 46 percent from the floor for a 33-22 lead.
