The Wisconsin Badgers struggle shooting from the outside as they fall to Purdue, 78-70.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Wisconsin played solid basketball over the course of 40 minutes Sunday in its regular-season finale against No. 3 Purdue.

The Badgers limited their turnovers to eight, won the battle for second-chance points (15-10) and stayed within six points with four-plus minutes left.

Their biggest failure in the 78-70 loss to the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena?

UW struggled to put the ball in the basket consistently, particularly from three-point range.

The Badgers entered the game hitting 35.2% of their three-point attempts in Big Ten play but hit just 5 of 24 attempts (20.8%) against the Boilermakers.

BOX SCORE: Purdue 78, Wisconsin 70

That left UW 8 of 43 from three-point range (18.6%) in two games against Purdue this season.

"We played better than we played back in Madison against them," said UW coach Greg Gard, whose team suffered a 75-69 home loss to the Boilermakers on Feb. 4. "We’ve got to make shots. That is obvious.

"But I liked the way we battled. I liked the way we competed. Other than knocking down some shots, we did exactly what we planned.

"I thought we did a lot of good things. But again, to come in here and win against this team, you have to make some shots to counter how they plug the paint and obviously with Edey inside."

The Badgers (19-12, 11-9) lost for the third time in four games and missed out on a chance to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Minneapolis.

UW will be seeded No. 5 and open at approximately 1:30 p.m. Thursday. The Badgers will face either No. 12 Maryland (15-16, 7-13) or No. 13 Rutgers (15-16, 7-13). Those teams meet in a first-round game at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

UW went 1-1 against Rutgers and 1-0 against Maryland during the regular season.

Purdue (28-3, 17-3), which used a 13-2 run to take control late, had already clinched the league title and will be seeded No. 1 in the league tournament.

Freshman John Blackwell led UW’s reserves and was fantastic with 18 points and four rebounds. He hit 2 of 3 three-pointers and 7 of 10 shots overall and competed with tenacity.

Tyler Wahl did the same and finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

AJ Storr, just 4 of 15 in the loss to Purdue in Madison, hit 6 of 15 shots Sunday for 17 points but struggled on defense.

Steven Crowl, who took just six shots in the teams' first meeting, picked up two quick fouls Sunday and didn’t attempt a shot in nine minutes in the first half when the Boilermakers built a 44-33 halftime lead.

Crowl never got into rhythm and fouled out with 1 minute 55 seconds left. He missed both his shots and finished with no points, two rebounds and one assist.

"I think the foul trouble puts him in a position where he is not as aggressive," Gard said when asked about Crowl's low number of shots. "It gets him out of a routine and a rhythm."

Max Klesmit, who suffered a lower-body injury in the second half of UW’s victory Thursday against Rutgers, got the start but picked up his second foul with 13:49 left in the first half. He didn’t return until the second half and finished with seven points.

"He’s got to get healthy," Gard said. "He is a little banged up right now. I wasn’t sure if he was going to play today or not."

Chucky Hepburn, who hit just 1 of 6 shots in the teams’ first meeting, left after taking a blow to the head late in the game. He finished with two points, three rebounds and one assist. He missed all 4 of his three-pointers and hit just 1 of 7 shots overall.

Purdue placed four players in double figures, hit timely three-pointers in the second half and finished 9 of 18 from beyond the arc.

Zach Edey (24.1 ppg, 11.7 rpg) overpowered UW's big men near the basket and finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds and three assists to lead the Boilermakers. He hit 11 of 14 free throws, matching UW's team numbers.

"He is one of the best players in the country," Wahl said. "He is tough to stop. We knew what we were in for today. We could have done a better job but I can’t fault the effort."

Despite trailing by 11 points at halftime and struggling to hit open three-pointers, the Badgers stayed within striking distance and pulled within four points twice and then within five points at 65-60 on two free throws by Wahl with 5:25 left.

Mason Gillis (six points, 2 of 4 from three-point range) and Fletcher Loyer (15 points, 2 of 2 from three-point range), hit timely three-pointers to push the lead to eight and nine points, respectively.

When Lance Jones (13 points, 3 of 5 three-pointers), hit a three-pointer with Hepburn down in pain on the opposite end of the court, Purdue's lead was 76-62 and UW's comeback hopes were extinguished.

"I feel like we were right there the entire game," Wahl said. "We make a couple threes, a couple bunnies and we probably have the lead going into the last media timeout.

"The toughness was there. The fight was there. We were getting on the ground fighting for loose balls.

"I thought defensively we were doing a pretty good job, (but) they hit their shots and we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.

"If anything, this is a step in the right direction, not the wrong (direction)."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers struggle with their outside shooting as they fall to Purdue