Indiana Basketball: Hoosiers win 2OT marathon to upset No.19 Wisconsin

After losing 12 of the last 13, Indiana basketball gets its first home win since January 3, as they knock off No. 19 Wisconsin by a score of 75-73.

Hoosier Nation rejoiced after Romeo Langford banked in the game winner with less than a second to go to give Indiana basketball fans their first home win since January 3.

Coming into the contest, Wisconsin had won 19 of the last 21 matchups against Indiana, but the Hoosiers made sure to break the trend.

The last time they played, the Badgers were in control of most of the game, resulting in a 10 point Wisconsin victory. Tuesday night in Bloomington was a different story though.

In the first four minutes of each half, the Hoosiers extended the pressure and took control of the start. This was something that inspired an unconfident team to gain confidence and project that for the rest of the game.

Indiana’s three shooting woes went away in the first half, recording six made three pointers on 14 attempts (went 0-for-3 in the 2nd half and 0-for-3 in the overtime periods). The Badgers shot 1-for-9 from beyond the arc in the first half which was a big reason of why the Hoosiers led by four going into the break.

A big factor was Race Thompson. Thompson recorded one point and seven rebounds in 22 minutes, a career high.

His main job was lock down Ethan Happ and he did a great job containing him. Happ finished the game with 23 points but was challenged all night only converting 9-of-18 from the field.

Thompson stepped up when team leader Juwan Morgan fouled out with two minutes left in the 2nd half. Morgan finished with nine points along with a well earned 15 rebounds, a career high.

In regulation, Freshman point guard Rob Phinisee drove to the hoop and put the Hoosiers up by two with eight seconds to go. Wisconsin guard D’Mitrik Trice turned around and got fouled and hit two clutch free throws to send the game to overtime after a Phinisee missed game winner.

In the first overtime, Romeo Langford psyched out his defender and banked in a shot to put the Hoosiers up three with 20 seconds to go but more heroics from Trice on a tough three pointer pulled at the strings of the players and fans alike and tied up the game. A broken play with two ticks left led to a three point attempt by Al Durham just in front of half court that was left way short.

In the second and final overtime, the Hoosiers were leading by three when Trice got fouled on a three point attempt and converted all of the free throws to tie it up, looking to send it to a third overtime. However, Wisconsin wing Khalil Iverson flinched for half a second with motion by Phinisee, and future lottery pick Romeo Langford took advantage and blew by him for the game winning shot.

When talking about the final play, Coach Archie Miller had this to say:

"“We asked Rob to come up and interfere a little bit and get out. The minute he did that, I thought their guy just flinched just a quick second. And the minute he did it, I knew Romeo’s shoulder was going to get by him, just a matter of whether he’d make it or not. He definitely made an aggressive play. We talked about it after the Iowa game. Don’t settle. Get to the rim. Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but he made a great play on the finish”."

One thing to note: Before Trice made all three free throws to tie up the game, Wisconsin was 1-for-6 from the stripe in the second overtime. They finished 13-for-25 overall at the line.

Langford scored 22 points tonight along with the game winner.

A player that only scored six points but made the most of his time on the floor was De’ron Davis.

Davis was sick and threw up as the game was tipping off but persevered through illness to record 22 minutes off the bench. Davis made a crucial layup and got the foul call with 15 seconds left in the second overtime to put the Hoosiers up three.

The Indiana defense was a major contributor to the win against Wisconsin. The duo of Matt Davison and D’Mitrik Trice combined to shoot 0-for-14 to start the contest, finishing just 3-for-21 on the night.

Justin Smith added 12 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes for the Hoosiers, coming off of a six minute outing against Iowa.

The Hoosiers look to take this crucial win and use it as momentum going into the Michigan State game on Saturday. If they can pull a win Saturday, their nonexistent tournament hopes may just magically reappear.

The Hoosiers were listed as a team the NCAA would consider in Joe Lunari’s recent analysis released before the game against Wisconsin.