MADISON, Wis. – Ben Brust scored 13 points and No. 25 Wisconsin continued its recent rebound in the Big Ten, beating No. 16 Indiana 57-50 on Thursday night.
Ryan Evans added 12 points for the Badgers (17-5, 6-3), who have won five in a row – including road victories at Purdue and Illinois – after a 1-3 start to conference play.
Verdell Jones and Christian Watford scored 12 points each for the Hoosiers (16-5, 4-5), who have lost four of their past five games. The Hoosiers snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory at Penn State on Sunday.
Jared Berggren had a career-high five blocks for the Badgers. Wisconsin won despite going 4 for 17 from three-point range.
The Badgers held Hoosiers freshman forward Cody Zeller to seven points on 2-for-7 shooting. Jones didn’t score in the second half.
Mike Bruesewitz and Jordan Taylor had 10 points each for the Badgers.
With Wisconsin leading 49-48, Josh Gasser found Bruesewitz open inside, and he slammed it home with both hands for a 51-48 lead with 2:47 left.
Then Watford missed two free throws – but he got another chance, hitting a long jumper in transition, cutting the lead to one with 2:05 left.
Evans then came up with a critical rebound and was fouled. He made two free throws to put Wisconsin up by three with 1:04 remaining. Coming out of a timeout, Zeller missed inside for the Hoosiers.
Taylor missed, but Bruesewitz came up with a rebound and was fouled. He hit two free throws to put the game away.
Indiana came into the game shooting 50 percent from the field this season, best in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, has been even more reliant than usual on three-point shooting. When the Badgers are on, they’re tough to beat – and when they’re not, they have typically struggled, although they turned that around Thursday.
Indiana played to the scouting report in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the field and taking a 27-25 lead. Wisconsin was 2 of 8 from three-point range in the first half, with Taylor going 0 for 3.