Wisconsin Beats Indiana 57-50 in One of the Worst Officiated Games Yet

I now know why Wisconsin has such a good record at home. The Badgers got just about every call in tonight's 57-50 victory over No. 17 Indiana.

I usually don't blame the refs on losses, but tonight they were the worst I've ever seen. They were the only reason why Indiana lost this game.

Save your breath, Wisconsin fans. Don't try to back them up because you literally have no valid points you can even bring. No one—and I mean no one—can say that these refs tonight didn't have a 100-percent effect on who won this contest.

There's really not much to say about the game, other than Indiana was clearly the better team and controlled most of this game.

But the refs had other thoughts about who won tonight.

How does Wisconsin only commit 10 total fouls in a Big 10 game?

Almost all of the Badgers' eight blocks were fouls due to an Indiana player getting hammered on the arm. The refs swallowed the whistle, but they called the Hoosiers on touch fouls on the other end. That sways game big-time when points are left off the scoreboard due to missed calls but are added on the other end.

It was evident when one of the worst players outside of Tom Pritchard to ever put on a Big 10 uniform, Mike Bruesewitz, hacked Will Sheehey on a dunk late in the second half that resulted in a no call.  Then, when Indiana was down three with less than 20 seconds to go and the shot clock was running out, Bruesewitz threw down Cody Zeller on a rebound off of a missed Badgers shot. Bruesewitz gained possession with no call at all.

That would have put the Hoosiers on the line to bring the game down to one.

The Hoosiers also could have had a chance at bringing the deficit down to one point when Ryan Evans went over the back twice on the possession prior to Bruesewitz's attempt to audition for the Badgers football team. But once again, nothing was called.

Inexcusable on behalf of the refs. They cost Indiana this game.

The Hoosiers have now lost their fourth game in the last five contests.

I can't blame anything on how Indiana played tonight. Against Minnesota and Nebraska, they stunk up the gym. Tonight, they played their hearts and guts out. They deserved this win.

The Hoosiers shot 45 percent from the field, including 37 percent from behind the arc. Indiana held Wisconsin to 39 percent from the field and 23 percent from three-point land. Rebounds and steals were even.

The difference tonight was the 18-10 stat in the fouls category won by Indiana.

Verdell Jones III and Christian Watford led the Hoosiers tonight with 12 points apiece; Jones III scored all 12 of his in the first half.

Jordan Hulls added nine of his own, and freshman Cody Zeller had seven points, with all seven coming in the second half.

The Hoosiers did a great job on the defensive end with shutting down Jordan Taylor. Taylor only had 10 points and two assists on 5-for-14 shooting, including 0-for-5 from behind the arc.

Ben Brust was the only Badger to hit a three; he was 3-for-6 behind the arc and led all Wisconsin scorers with 13 points.

Indiana will only hope that they take on the Iowa Hawkeyes—and not the refs—at 6:00pm on Sunday in Assembly Hall for their next game.

The one plus that I can take from tonight's game is if you just read the score, you would think Indiana is struggling, but if they play that effort from here on out, they're going to be a dangerous tournament team.