Wisconsin vs. Indiana: Score and Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

The No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers are the Big Ten's highest-ranked team in the Associated Press Top 25, and they looked the part Tuesday with a 75-68 victory over the No. 25 Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall.

Wisconsin closed the game with a 9-5 spurt after Indiana was within three at 66-63 and moved to 13-2 in the process. The Badgers are also 2-0 in conference play and extended their winning streak to nine games.

The Hoosiers fell to 10-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference play with their third straight loss.

Ethan Happ led the way with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists behind 8-of-11 shooting from the field and a number of important plays down the stretch. Bronson Koenig finished with 17 points and set the tone early with hot shooting from three-point range. He hit all five of his shots from deep and spearheaded an effort that saw Wisconsin make 10 of 20 threes as a team.

Juwan Morgan, De'Ron Davis and Robert Johnson each scored 12 points for Indiana, but big man Thomas Bryant finished with just six points and three rebounds and was clearly outplayed by Happ.

The Hoosiers also struggled from deep and shot just 5-of-15 on threes.

The Badgers couldn't have scripted a better start. They forced turnovers on four of Indiana's opening five possessions, and Koenig drilled three three-pointers during the stretch to give the visitors the early 13-0 lead.

Terry Hutchens of CNHI Sports Indiana acknowledged the Hoosiers' apparent drop-off:

While Indiana didn't look like the early-season version of itself during the opening minutes, it didn't take long for the Hoosiers to climb back into the game. Morgan woke the crowd up with a rim-rattling dunk as part of a 10-0 run that trimmed the deficit to 16-10.

The teams exchanged mini-runs, with Wisconsin pushing its advantage to 24-15 and 32-24 before Indiana pulled within two with two straight OG Anunoby baskets.

The Hoosiers then took their first lead of the game when James Blackmon Jr. hit a three from the top of the key. Wisconsin seized it right back with a D'Mitrik Trice layup and took a 38-37 lead into the halftime locker rooms.

While Indiana deserved credit for battling back, the defense was largely nonexistent in the first 20 minutes, as DeAntae Prince of Sports Illustrated noted: "Indiana's defensive awareness is on zero right now. You can't get caught ball-watching this much."

Happ took advantage of some of the soft defense in the first half, as Big Ten Network shared:

The Badgers extended their lead to 46-39 early in the second half with a three from Trice, but Koenig was forced to the bench with his third foul. Indiana took full advantage with two quick baskets and then tied the game with an and-1 from Davis that gave Happ his third foul as well.

The two sides exchanged leads during a quick start to the second half, but Wisconsin had to make a temporary change with Davis dictating terms down low, as Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star said:

The back-and-forth continued in the middle portion of the second half, and the veteran Nigel Hayes gave the Badgers the 59-57 lead with an and-1 with less than seven minutes remaining. The senior was fairly quiet to that point, but he found a way to beat Anunoby's defense at an important time.

Hayes' play sparked a 10-2 run that included a Zak Showalter three and turned a 57-56 deficit into a 66-59 lead for the Badgers.

Wisconsin had momentum on its side, but Bryant drew Happ's fourth foul with less than three minutes left. The Hoosiers climbed within three at 66-63 with free throws, but Happ drove right past Davis with relative ease for a crucial basket and grabbed a rebound on the other side.

Vitto Brown's three with less than a minute left all but ended it, and Wisconsin closed out the victory.

Postgame Reaction

Indiana head coach Tom Crean weighed in on the defensive struggles, per Chris Goff of the Journal Gazette: "The defense is what has to pick up. At times it's urgency. At times it's the technique of your hands. We'll get there."

Crean also talked about the lackluster start to the game, per Jeff Rabjohns of Scout's Peegs.com: "I don't even know what to tell you about how we started the game. It made no sense to me."

Morgan wasn't in panic mode after Indiana's third straight loss, per Osterman: "I'm not frustrated at all. I'm confident in everybody on the team, on the staff, everybody around the program."

On the other side, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard talked about keeping Happ in the game after his fourth foul, per Benjamin Worgull of Scout: "That was the biggest debate whether to pull him out not ... He said I'll play and I'll be smart."

Gard also said Purdue was Wisconsin's toughest competition in the Big Ten because "they're next," per Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

What's Next?

Indiana next takes the court at home against Illinois on Saturday. Its upcoming eight games are all against teams that aren't currently ranked in the AP Top 25, so it has an opportunity to bolster its Big Ten record before the stretch run.

Wisconsin faces No. 20 Purdue on the road Sunday. It is the only time those two foes play this season and could be a critical head-to-head tiebreaker in the Big Ten title race. The Badgers then play six straight games against unranked teams before their rematch with the Hoosiers on Feb. 5.