Poor shooting from deep hampers Wisconsin in 63-59 loss at Nebraska

A rough night shooting from three-point range and the free throw line dampened Wisconsin’s chances in a 63-59 loss to Nebraska on Tuesday night in Lincoln.

Redshirt junior forward Ethan Happ contributed a game-high 19 points, 11 rebounds and four steals before fouling out late in the second half in the loss.

Happ made nine of 15 attempts from the field, but the team only shot 42 percent from the field (25 of 59). The main culprit was the shooting from beyond the arc, as the Badgers only hit on five of 19 three-point attempts (26.3 percent).

UW (9-9, 2-3 Big Ten) did not fare well from the free throw line either, missing six of 10 attempts from the charity stripe. Happ only connected on one of six free throws for the evening.

Guard James Palmer Jr. scored a team-high 18 points, with forward Isaac Copeland bringing in 12 points and six rebounds for Nebraska (12-6, 3-2) in the win.

Like the Badgers, the Huskers also shot under 43 percent (20 for 47) from the field overall but made 18 of 24 free throws in the second half to secure the victory.

Tim Miles’ bench also outscored UW’s 20-3.

Wisconsin trailed by as much as 10 points after a Jordy Tshimanga dunk with 5:28 left in the first half, putting Nebraska ahead 24-14.

After not scoring for five minutes and five seconds, Davison’s three-pointer at the 4:25 mark broke the drought. That helped Wisconsin end the half on an 8-2 run and entered the locker room with a 26-22 deficit to overcome.

Davision scored 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting, but also added five rebounds and assists each.

At times in the second half, Nebraska worked to extend the lead to double digits, only for Wisconsin to fight back to close within a basket or two.

For that matter, UW actually shot 50 percent from the field in the second half (16 of 32), with Happ coming alive in the final 20 minutes with 15 of his 19 points scored in this final period.

Yet UW’s answers were not enough to overcome Nebraska’s lead.

After Wisconsin pulled within two points early in the second half, Nebraska utilized a 13-2 run to break out an 11-point advantage at 41-30 with under 14 minutes left the game.

An 8-2 Wisconsin run brought the game back within five after a Nate Reuvers layup with 9:42 left in the game, but Nebraska continued to push the lead back out.

A pair of Thomas Allen free throws extended the Huskers’ back out to 10 with 7:20 remaining, but Happ scored seven straight points for UW and brought the Badgers to within four with 4:45 remaining at 51-47.

That would be the closest Wisconsin would get until a second left in the game after back-to-back threes from Brevin Pritzl and Davison dwindled the lead down to 62-59.

Before those two baskets, Wisconsin was three of 17 from behind the arc.

However, Evan Taylor hit one of two free throws with 0.9 seconds left in regulation to seal Wisconsin’s ninth loss of the year.

Another road loss for the Wisconsin drops them below .500 in conference play. Greg Gard’s team returns to action next Tuesday at Purdue, which just pulled out a 70-69 win over Michigan this evening.