It was not a good day to be the favorite in the Big Ten Tournament. After Northwestern pushed Ohio State to overtime, Illinois squandered a double digit second half lead, and Purdue was railroaded by Michigan State, Wisconsin came out and laid an egg against the heavy underdog Penn State.
It was the sort of game that seemed like nobody wanted to win. After a spurt at tip off Penn State's scoring fell into oblivion, and Wisconsin only barely found competence midway through the second half. The Badgers and the Nittany Lions are the leagues two slowest, most methodical teams, and it showed tonight, as poor shooting compounded a snail's pace game from both offenses. PSU, the winning team, had 36 points off of 39 shots, with 8 turnovers, going 3-12. Wisconsin somehow managed to fair even worse, netting 33 points on 51 shots, and going 2-21 from beyond the arc.
Wisconsin's production came almost entirely from its stand out players, Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer, who together totaled 26 points, but this was still a relatively poor performance for the duo, as they took the lion's share of shots for the Badgers as well, (35 of the total 51.)
Like Purdue, Wisconsin ends its season with back to back losses, which could hurt the Badgers come Selection Sunday. Penn State on the other hand, boosted their tournament resume significantly with this win, and could be pushing for an at large bid if they manage to take down MSU tomorrow.