MADISON, Wis. — It has been almost 23 years since the Hoosiers have traveled to the Kohl Center and won. Indiana failed to break the curse in a 80-73 loss to the Badgers Thursday night in 2OT. Indiana was led by their star Trayce Jackson-Davis and 23 points, 12 rebounds.

Indiana was playing with several key injuries. Armaan Franklin injured his ankle last game on an awkward drive to the basket and veteran Rob Phinisee took over to start for him. Pregame, he was spotted on the sideline in casual clothes and he is “out for the foreseeable future” according to Archie Miller. Joey Brunk is still out indefinitely with a back injury.

The first half had plenty of jitters for both teams early on. Each team had three turnovers in the first 5 minutes making it difficult for either to gain momentum.

Race Thompson got into early foul trouble picking up two fouls within the first four minutes of the first half. This forced him out of play early and brought Jerome Hunter in his place. Indiana felt Race’s absence quickly by five unanswered points before Trayce Jackson-Davis juked the defense for an easy slam and Indiana scoring seven in a row to take the lead.

Just as quickly as Indiana got their lead, it fell away in dramatic fashion. Wisconsin scored 12 in a row within three minutes off multiple quick baskets under the rim and threes.

Archie Miller has shown consistent confidence in his freshmen class as Anthony Leal, Khristian Lander, and Jordan Geronimo all saw the court off the bench within the first ten minutes of the game. Leal performed well in the first half hitting 2-3 from three which is more points than he has scored this season thus far.

An 11-4 run at the end of the first half brought Indiana back in the game and they ended the half down 24-29. Jackson-Davis and Leal both led the team with six points. Aleem Ford led the Badgers with eight points.

The second half started much better for the Hoosiers than the first. They came out strong behind Al Durham with 5 of the first 7 points of the half.

Some of the best basketball Indiana has played all season was early in the second half. They came out and played clean, well-executed basketball while getting many players involved and spreading the ball around.

Indiana hit foul trouble early in this game as both Jerome Hunter and Race Thompson racked up four and three fouls respectively with more than 12 minutes left to play. They brought Jordan Geronimo to give some breathing room and prevent more foul trouble.

As the game wore on, the focus turned to the bigs, Jackson-Davis and Nate Reuvers. Both fought each other hard with Jackson-Davis ripping the ball out of Reuvers’ hands at one point, launching him on the ground, and then making an emphatic slam on the other end.

With less than eight minutes to play, Indiana finally took the lead 52-50. Trayce Jackson-Davis kept the momentum going on another slam before a Wisconsin timeout.

After Indiana got up by six late in the game, Wisconsin crawled back behind several key stops and baskets to take the lead back with less than three minutes to play off a short Reuvers jumper.

The game went down to the wire tied at 59 apiece with a minute to play after “Big Shot” Rob Phinisee hit a deep three and Wisconsin answered with a pair of free throws.

Hunter gave the lead back to Indiana on a slam under the rim with 37 seconds to go. D’Mitrik Trice answered with a floater with under 25 seconds remaining in the game.

Jackson-Davis was not able to convert on their final play of regulation which brought the game into overtime for Indiana’s second overtime game in conference play.