All those encouraging signs that dominated the first 10 weeks of the season have given way to the reality of February in the Big Ten for Illinois.
The No. 23 Illini lost for the second time in three games Thursday night as Wisconsin rolled to a 63-50 victory at the Kohl Center.
The Illini moved into the national rankings at No. 19 three weeks ago but are in danger of falling out with No. 14 Purdue, second in the Big Ten, due in Champaign on Sunday.
Jason Bohannon led Wisconsin with 20 points, with Marcus Landry adding 16 and Jon Leuer 15. Mike Davis led Illinois with 14, and Demetri McCamey scored 12.
Illinois (18-5, 6-4 Big Ten) lost its fourth straight road game and is tied with Minnesota, Penn State and Ohio State for third place in the Big Ten. Ninth-place Wisconsin (13-9, 4-6) snapped a six-game losing streak.
Illinois went into the game knowing a Wisconsin team that had lost six straight would be a challenge.
“A team like that is hard to play with their backs up against the wall,” Illinois center Mike Tisdale said. “They’re not used to losing [at home].”
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan was forced to make one lineup change, giving sophomore forward Jon Leuer his first start of the season in place of Keaton Nankivil, who was out with an ankle injury. Going into the game, Leuer’s 9.1 points per game led Big Ten reserves.
Before the game, Ryan talked about dealing with the losing streak.
“I got into this profession first as a social studies teacher, so I go back to teaching,” said Ryan, in his eighth year as Badgers coach.. “I work on the next game plan, practice plan, that’s the way I look at it. I’m a facilitator for them to learn.
“I have to be a teacher first, then a coach, get ready for that next practice, next game. That’s what I’ve always done.”
In Ryan’s first seven seasons, the Badgers lost only seven home games. But they have lost three this season, all to ranked teams — No. 9 Texas, No. 18 Minnesota and No. 16 Purdue.
Wisconsin led by as many as 14 points in the first half and went to the locker room ahead 37-25, and Leuer was one of the reasons. He scored 10 points, as did forward Marcus Landry. Illinois’ big problem, however, was Bohannon, who made all five of hits three-pointers to score 15 first-half points.
One of Illinois’ goals in this game was to get its shooting back on track. It didn’t happen as the Illini shot only 21 of 64, (32.8 percent) 4 of 21 (19 percent) on three-pointers.
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tabannon@tribune.com
