Community Picks: Indiana U 0% vs Wisconsin 0%

If Wisconsin somehow rallies back into NCAA tournament contention during the second half of the season, the Badgers will probably remember Sunday as the launching point.  They came back to stun fourth-ranked Michigan State 77-76 in a game that looked all but lost only seconds earlier. Wisconsin trailed by four with less than 30 seconds to go when point guard Bronson Koenig buried a deep, heavily contested right-wing 3-pointer to slash the deficit to one. The Badgers then caught a huge break when they trapped Eron Harris on the ensuing inbound pass and the Michigan State guard turned the ball over by stepping on the sideline. Given new life, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard put the ball in the hands of Koenig and gave him a chance to create via a pair of high ball screens. Koenig found Ethan Happ rolling to the basket and the Wisconsin big man scored a reverse layup with 10.2 seconds left to give the Badgers the lead. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo chose not to call timeout so that Wisconsin couldn't set its defense, but the Spartans could not hit either potential game-winning shot on their final possession. Denzel Valentine missed a clean look at a top of the key 3-pointer and Matt Costello's desperation fall-away baseline jumper also rattled out at the buzzer.  ICYMI: Here is the closing seconds of the dramatic @BadgerMBB win. https://t.co/JHoW7CPBu3 — Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) January 17, 2016 Wisconsin desperately needed a win to revitalize its season after opening Big Ten play with four losses in five games all by six or fewer points. The most recent one at Northwestern was especially galling for a program that has been in back-to-back Final Fours, leading junior forward Nigel Hayes to openly challenge his teammates in the media afterward.  While Wisconsin is still only 10-9 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, the Badgers at least now have a glimmer of hope. Three of their next five games come against teams .500 or worse in the Big Ten and the other two are home games against Indiana and Ohio State. Michigan State suffered its second straight loss and its first loss of the season to someone other than Iowa. Valentine (23 points), Matt Costello (18), Harris (14) and Bryn Forbes (12) each scored in double figures, but the Spartans struggled to contain Koenig and Hayes and were also undone by Wisconsin's 36-16 advantage in free throws attempted. Especially galling for Michigan State was a late foul against freshman Deyonta Davis after he appeared to corral a missed Valentine free throw. It would have been Spartans ball up four had the foul not been called, but instead Vitto Brown went to the foul line and sliced Wisconsin's deficit to two with 2:10 to play. That helped pave the way for a comeback that could also have longterm ramifications for the Badgers. Gard is fighting to prove he deserves to be the one to succeed Bo Ryan beyond this season. A big home win like this can only help his cause. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

January 17, 2016 4:33:pm EST