No. 23 Wisconsin Stuns No. 3 Purdue, Ends Home Winning Streak at 13
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Fifteen NBA scouts came to Mackey Arena Monday night to watch Purdue's Jaden Ivey and Wisconsin's Johnny Davis, among others.
They got one heck of a show.
Davis, a sophomore from LaCrosse, Wis., scored 37 points and had 14 rebounds in leading the No. 23-ranked Badgers to a 74-69 upset of the No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers Monday night at Mackey Arena.
"I'd say the 14 rebounds might mean even more to me,'' Davis said with a smile. "I even outrebounded their big guy (Zach Edey), and he's 8-feet tall.
Both were career highs for Davis, and he was tough to slow down all night long.
"He was tough. It was as simple as that,'' said Purdue's Ivey, who played with Davis this summer on the USA's gold medal-winning under-19 national team. "He played well, and I knew he could perform like that.''
With the win, Wisconsin moved to 11-2 on the season and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Purdue (12-2) is now 1-2 in conference play, losing a game in December to Rutgers just days after being voted No. 1 in the country for the first time in school history.
Davis was 13-of-24 from the field and made 9-of-12 free throws. Several of his shots were contested too, but it didn't matter.
"Credit to him. He played an unbelievable game and made a lot of tough shots,'' said Purdue guard Ethan Morton, who battled Davis a lot defensively in the second half. "There were some things I wish I could take back, too. He was tough.''
Purdue came into the game ranked fourth in the country in scoring average — 87.2 points per game — but really struggled to get going on the offensive end in the first half. It didn't help that Ivey, their leading scorer, picked up two early fouls and only played 9 minutes, scoring just one point.
Wisconsin also did a nice job of keeping the Purdue big men at bay. Senior Trevion Williams and Zach Edey were just 2-for-7 combined shooting in the paint in the first half, with Edey getting the only two baskets. They had only four bench points the entire half.
Purdue trailed 27-24 at the break, it's lowest first-half output all season. (Previously, they scored only 27 against N.C. State on Dec. 12, an eventual 82-72 overtime win.) Purdue forward Mason Gillis made all three of his shots — all three-pointers — but the rest of the team was just 4-for-19 shooting from the field.
Purdue started hot out of the break, scoring the first seven points that included an Ivey three-pointer and and two free throws, but he picked up his third foul at the 18:22. Purdue coach Matt Painter elected to keep him in the game, and he was rewarded with another Ivey three, giving the Boilermakers a 34-32 lead.
Purdue got back-to-back threes from Ethan Morton and Sasha Stefanovic to go up 42-38, and then when Edey scored on a short jumper, the Boilers had a six-point lead, its largest of the game at the 13:53 mark.
Ivey pushed the lead to seven (49-42) with 11:12 to go, scoring on a hard drive to the basket and putting him into double figures.
Wisconsin fired right back, though, going on a 12-3 run to grab the lead again at 54-52. Davis had seven points in the run, including a three-pointer.
Purdue went back ahead on a Sasha Stefanovic layup through traffic, but Wisconsin senior guard Brad Davison answered with a three. But they Ivey scored, and after a Wisconsin miss, Edey scored after an offensive rebound to put Purdue up 62-60 with 3:44 to go.
Wisconsin tied it on two more Davis free throws and Davison put them ahead 65-62 with a three-pointer and the 3:18 mark. Davis followed with a three of his own a minute later to make it 68-63 and then hit another jumper from the elbow to give Wisconsin a 70-63.
Purdue cut the lead to 70-67 but was forced to foul. Davison made both free throws to put Wisconsin back up by five (72-67) with 12.3 seconds to go. Wisconsin broke the ensuing press though, and Davis ended things with a dunk.
Edey had 24 points for Purdue, and Ivey had 14 points on 3-of-9 shooting.
Davison had 15 points, and was the only other Badger besides Davis to reach double figures. He's not surprised by what his teammate accomplishes anymore — he had a game-winning three-pointer against Indiana in December as well — but he certainly admires the show he puts on.
"It's incredible as his teammate, just giving him the space to go to work,'' Davison said. ''He's a super fun guy to play with, just because of his desire to win. He's wired to score, wired to dominate, and it's a blast just watching him take over a game like that.''
"I thought Wisconsin was just mentally and physical tougher than we were,'' Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "We've lost a couple games, and we're searching for that, just trying to be a tougher team. We see that on the defensive end, and Johnny Davis showed that tonight. He's a fabulous two-way player. He's got a bright future. I'd love to be his agent.
"We switch a lot of what they run, and we get different people on him. They broke us down with ball screens, and we have to get better with what we do. We just haven't established that identity yet. We're just not that good on defense, and we've got to keep working.''
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard knew the value of this road win, which are hard to come by in the Big Ten, especially against a highly ranked team.
"Matt's got a terrific team, but I think we've got a pretty good team, too,'' Gard said. "This group has an abundance of grit, and they find a way, They get rewarded for their effort.''
Stories Related to Purdue Basketball
- PURDUE LACKS PHYSICALITY IN LOSS TO WISCONSIN: On the shoulders of Johnny Davis’ 37 points and 14 rebounds, Wisconsin defeated Purdue 74-69 at Mackey Arena in a physical Big Ten matchup. The Boilermakers fell to 1-2 in the conference after the loss. CLICK HERE
- PURDUE, WISCONSIN LIVE BLOG: No. 3 Purdue basketball resumed Big Ten play Monday night at Mackey Arena against No. 23 Wisconsin. Relive the matchup with our blog, live from press row. CLICK HERE
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who's worked at some America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star. He also owns the book publishing company, Hilltop30 Publishing Group, and he has written four books and published 16 others.