The Wisconsin basketball team snapped Michigan State's home-winning streak, the longest in the nation, with a thrilling 64-63 win over the 25th-ranked Spartans at the Breslin Center. Michigan State's Kelvin Torbert had his last second basket waved off after the officials determined it came after time expired.
Michigan State's fans had already flooded the court thinking the Spartans had come away with a win, but the officials disallowed the basket after seeing the video replay.
Freddie Owens scored the winning basket for the Badgers with 25 seconds remaining. MSU's Alan Anderson was fouled by Kirk Penney with 8.1 seconds left, making the first of two free throws to close the lead to one. He missed the second free throw, but Michigan State got the rebound and the chance to win.
Michigan State led for most of the second half, including a 10-point lead with 15:34 remaining, but the Badgers got back into it. Redshirt freshman Mike Wilkinson and Owens sparked the Badger comeback. Wilkinson made three steals in less than a minute to cut the Spartans' 10-point lead to two points with just over 12 minutes to go in the game. The lead changed nine times in the last eight minutes of the game.
The Spartans were plagued by turnovers throughout the game. Michigan State committed 16 turnovers, compared to only seven by UW. The Badgers took advantage of the Spartans' sloppy play, scoring 24 points off the MSU turnovers.
It was the first Badger win over Michigan State in nine games and the first time Wisconsin had won at the Breslin Center since 1996. The Spartans' eight-game winning streak over the Badgers included the 53-41 win at the 2000 NCAA Final Four. Last season Wisconsin forced overtime at the Breslin Center, but fell 69-59 in the extra period.
Charlie Wills led Wisconsin with 17 points and Owens scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Travon Davis and Penney each chipped in with 10 points apiece.
The Badgers won despite extremely poor shooting from three-point range. Wisconsin, which averages 35 percent from behind the arc, shot an uncharacteristically low 19 percent from long range.
Wisconsin started out the game on a tear, making its first five shots from the field. The Badgers went on a 16-6 run to start the game, but the Spartans responded with a 12-0 run of their own to take the lead. Michigan State took a 32-28 lead into halftime. Davis scored all 10 of his points in the first half for Wisconsin on 4-of-7 shooting.
The win improved the Badgers' Big Ten record to 2-2 and their overall record to 9-8. Michigan State, the four-time Big Ten defending champions, fell to 0-3 in the league and 9-7 overall.
After starting the season 1-4, the Badgers have gone 8-4, including three wins over Top 25 teams.
The Badgers will look to improve their 5-1 record at home when they play Minnesota on Wednesday, January 16 at the Kohl Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
