Boilermakers beat Badgers, spoil Wisconsin's farewell party for seniors
MADISON, Wis. -- Winning at the Kohl Center is no easy task -- ask anyone in the Big Ten Conference -- but doing so when Wisconsin honors its outgoing seniors has been nearly impossible since Bo Ryan came to town.
Purdue, however, found a way on Sunday.
Bolstered by a 22-3 second-half run, the Boilermakers upset No. 17 Wisconsin 69-56, snapping an 11-game Senior Day winning streak and cooling the Badgers' dreams of a conference championship.
A 22-3 run in the second half erased a five-point halftime deficit and led the Boilermakers to their first win in Madison since 2009.
"I was concerned that we wouldn't score 50 points," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. "If you've watched Wisconsin at all this season, that's not an unfair assessment but I thought if we get to 50 and we could grind it out, hopefully we could get a victory."
D.J. Byrd had 22 points and eight rebounds for Purdue (14-15, 7-9), which also got 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot from Terone Johnson. The 3-pointer was big for the Boilermakers, who made 6 of 12 on a day they shot 45.6 percent from the field.
"Those are some tough shots that they made," Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. "When they start driving, you start squeezing a little and the 3-point shot comes open. They took advantage of it."
For the Badgers (20-9, 11-5), Jared Berggren finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Ryan Evans and Sam Dekker scored 10 points each while Ben Brust added eight.
Wisconsin hit seven of its first 11 attempts but shot just 8 of 27 (29.6 percent) in the second half and 22 of 54 for the game. The 3-pointer was especially troubling for the Badgers, who made six 3s in the first half but finished the game 6-for-28 from beyond the arc.
"We wanted to try and not let them get rhythm shots," Painter said. "That's easier said than done. We didn't want to let them get the ball in the post ... Our guys did a good job of taking them out of rhythm."
Purdue scored 18 points on 12 Wisconsin turnovers -- 10 off seven in the second half -- and had a 39-27 advantage rebounding, including 12-6 on the offensive end.
"The numbers show that they did a better job on some of those hustle plays and 50-50 balls," Berggren said "They seemed to get their hands on it. It's something we usually take pride in controlling and usually get more than our fair share. Today we didn't do a good job with those and it cost us."
After slowly building what seemed like a comfortable 13-point lead with 7:08 remaining in the first half, the Badgers quickly went cold and led by just five at the intermission. Purdue took advantage, going on a 12-4 run to draw within a point on Byrd's 3-pointer with 15:11 to play.
The Boilermakers stayed hot, going ahead by nine before a Berggren dunk -- Wisconsin's first field goal in nearly six minutes -- made it 54-47 with 8:55 to play. After Dekker's layup at 8:37, Evans hit one of two free throws to get within four but Purdue recovered and never let the Badgers get back in the game.
"In the second half we knew we needed to guard Brust," Byrd said. "He only needs a little bit of space to get his shot off. He's one of the best shooters in the Big Ten, so we knew we had to be there. It was just actively. We were there, had a hand and rebounded well. They had one-shot possessions most of the time, and that was huge for us."
The loss is a major setback to the Badgers' hopes at catching Indiana at the top of the Big Ten standings. Wisconsin started the day a game behind the Hoosiers, tied for second place with Michigan State -- which travels to Michigan later Sunday afternoon.
Wisconsin goes to East Lansing, Mich. Thursday to face the Spartans before wrapping up the regular season Sunday at Penn State.
NOTES: Wisconsin had been 11-0 on Senior Day under Bo Ryan ... Purdue snapped a four-game road losing streak and is just the third unranked Big Ten team to beat Wisconsin under Ryan at the Kohl Center ... Brust was averaging 14.7 points and 3.0 3-pointers in his last seven games but finished with just eight and went 2-for-7 on 3-point attempts Sunday ... Purdue freshmen Donnie Hale, A.J. Hammons, Rapheal Davis and Ronnie Johnson are averaging a combined 29.9 points per game, which accounts for 46.5 percent of the Boilermakers' offense. ... The Badgers went 6-1 in February. During Ryan's 12 seasons, the Badgers have gone 79-27 (.745) in regular-season games played after Feb. 1.
