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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Standing at the foul line with the game in the balance, Mike Kelley was just concentrating on his ride home.
With big free throws from Kelley and a career-high 16 points
from Maurice Linton, Wisconsin roared from behind in the closing
minutes to upset Indiana (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) 56-53 Sunday in the Big Ten's final
regular-season game.
|  | | Wisconsin's Mike Kelley, who made four free throws in the final 25 seconds, rides high on the shoulders of Badger fans. |
Linton put the Badgers ahead on a crashing layup with 59 seconds
left, and Kelley made four tense free throws over the final 25
seconds. After the game's controversial finish, the Wisconsin
student body stormed the court and lifted Kelley onto its
collective shoulders -- just like he had imagined moments earlier.
"I've never had the crowd rush the court before," Kelley said.
"I was just thinking, 'Please let me make these so they can rush
the court.' That's the best way you could end the year here."
Wisconsin closed the game on an 11-3 run and then survived for
its second double-digit comeback win in three games.
Indiana's Dane Fife missed a 3-pointer with three seconds left, and television replays indicated that the ball bounced off a Wisconsin player and landed out of bounds with at least one second showing.
But the clock ran to 0:00 and the buzzer sounded. After a short
conference, the officials declared the game over.
That drew a clipboard-throwing display of anger from Indiana coach Bobby Knight, who attempted to grab official Ed Hightower and plead his case.
Afterward, Hightower said the officials had determined that the
buzzer sounded at about the same time one official blew his
whistle, making the play non-reviewable.
Knight didn't comment directly on the game's ending.
"Let me put it (this) way, we didn't have a chance to win at
the end of the ballgame," Knight said. "Wisconsin really deserved
to win the game the way they came back. They played harder than we
did in the last 10 minutes."
Wisconsin got just its second win over the Hoosiers in the
schools' last 37 meetings.
The victory also may have ensured an NCAA tournament berth for
Wisconsin (16-12, 8-8 Big Ten), which beat a ranked team at the
Kohl Center for the fourth time this season. The game was
meaningless for the Hoosiers (20-7, 10-6), who will meet
Illinois on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament
in Chicago.
"I think we're in," Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett said. "Take
it for whatever you want ... but I think we've done enough this
year that we don't have to worry about it."
After falling behind 50-45 with 4:13 to play, Wisconsin held
Indiana without a point for four minutes while scoring nine
straight. With the score tied at 50, Linton made a reckless drive
into the lane, crashed into Lynn Washington -- and somehow scored,
giving the Badgers their first lead in 33 minutes.
"He kind of took my legs out from up under me," Linton said.
"I wasn't really worried about the finish. I was worried about the
landing."
Kelley added two free throws before Michael Lewis hit a
3-pointer with 12 seconds to play. After two more free throws from
Kelley, who had 10 points, Fife badly missed a 3-pointer and set
off the disputed ending.
Wisconsin snapped a four-game losing streak against the
Hoosiers. The sixth-seeded Badgers open the conference tournament
Thursday against Northwestern.
A.J. Guyton led the Hoosiers with 23 points, but he missed two
open jumpers and a free throw in the closing minutes of his final
Big Ten regular-season game. Kirk Haston had 14 points, just two of
which came after halftime as Indiana tightened up.
Guyton hit a 3-pointer and a long jumper to give Indiana a 44-32
lead with 11:31 to play, but Duany Duany -- a Bloomington, Ind.,
native who wasn't heavily recruited by Knight -- responded with nine
straight points for the Badgers during a 13-2 run.
"I was just thinking, it's now or never," Duany said. "The
game, the NCAAs, all of it is on the line. We've got to get it
going."
The game was Knight's first in Wisconsin since he accidentally
shot a friend while hunting grouse in the northwestern part of the
state in October. Knight was cited for failing to report the
accident, which wasn't serious.
Dozens of Wisconsin students wore hunters' orange to the game, and the students chanted "Please don't shoot me!" in the first half.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Indiana Clubhouse
Wisconsin Clubhouse
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