A starter lost to injury, a rare technical foul on coach Bruce Weber, another loss to a ranked team.
That’s how it was at Assembly Hall on Wednesday night as No. 11 Wisconsin took control in the first half and went on to a 71-57 victory over Illinois to remain tied with Indiana for first place in the Big Ten.
The Illini struggled on offense most of the night. Senior center Shaun Pruitt scored 16 points, 14 of them in the first half. Freshman guard Demetri McCamey scored all 18 of his points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.
Trevon Hughes had 18 to lead Wisconsin (22-4, 12-2), while Marcus Landry added 17 and Jason Bohannon 15.
Illinois (11-16, 3-11) jumped out to an 8-4 lead, but then events turned against the Illini. With 12 minutes 58 seconds left in the first half, senior forward Brian Randle collided with Greg Stiemsma and suffered a sprained right shoulder, knocking the Illini’s No. 2 scorer out of the game.
The Badgers went on a 9-0 run with three free throws by Bohannon and three-point shots by Michael Flowers and Hughes to take a 16-10 lead.
Through much of the first half, the Illini’s only offense was whatever Pruitt could do inside. Pruitt made five of his first six shots and was 4 of 5 from the free-throw line.
Weber picked up his second technical foul of the season with 4:26 left in the first half after telling an official, “I don’t understand.”
Bohannon made the two free throws to give Wisconsin a 29-21 lead.
Wisconsin started the second half with an 8-3 run to take a 42-28 lead, prompting an Illinois timeout at the 16:46 mark.
Weber started junior forward Rodney Alexander in place of McCamey, who had started the previous three games as the Illini went with a three-guard lineup.
Weber admires Wisconsin’s program and the balance it has — the Badgers are the only Big Ten team that went into Wednesday with four players averaging 10 points per game in conference play.
“Their kids love Wisconsin and being part of Wisconsin basketball tradition,” Weber said. “Their senior (Brian Butch) is playing the best of his career. Flowers, three years ago wasn’t a factor and now he’s one of the best defensive players. Hughes has made big steps. He’s the one of all of them who could be a star.”
Butch, the Badgers’ fifth-year, 6-foot-11-inch center-forward is enjoying his best season, taking team-high averages of 12.6 points and 7.0 rebounds into the Illinois game.
“It’s just another year of experience,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said of Butch. “In coaching, we all learn something from the year we just had, and players do the same. It’s a matter of putting that knowledge to use. He’s certainly picked up on his three-point shooting.”
In the five games before Wednesday, Butch made 10 of 17 three-pointers after making only three of his first 32 this season. He banked in the game-winning three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left in the Badgers’ 68-66 victory at Indiana on Feb. 13.
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tabannon@tribune.com
