Badgers men's basketball: No. 15 Purdue hot night shots winning streak ends Wisconsin

The University of Wisconsin basketball team men had no answers for inside-outside offensive attack Sunday night Purdue.

As a result, the Badgers will play on Thursday in the tournament Big Ten Conference for the first time since 2000.

Freshman forward Caleb Swanigan finished with a career-high 27 points, scoring 21 in the second half to help the No. 15 Boilermakers beat the Badgers 91-80 in the final game of the regular season in Mackey Arena.

Junior forward Nigel Hayes scored a game-high 30 points to lead the University of Washington, which ended in a four-way tie for third place in the Big Ten. Badgers (20-11, 12-6 Big Ten) is the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten tournament and will play either Nebraska or Rutgers on Thursday in Indianapolis.

A win would have given the UW a bye in the quarterfinals of the 16th consecutive season.

second guard PJ Thompson added a career-high 22 points for Purdue (24-7, 12-6), who shot 62.2 percent from the field to finish with the most points by an opponent this season UW.

Badgers focused much attention on Boilermakers senior center AJ Hammons, who had 16 points. But doubling the post left open shooters on the perimeter, and Purdue made payment for that strategy UW.

Boilermakers went 10 of 19 from 3-point range. Thompson was the August 6, while Vince Edwards second advance was 3 out of 5.

Purdue also scored 25 points at the free throw line, with Swanigan going 14 of 17 in the second half.

freshman redshirt forward Ethan Happ scored 14 points and junior guard Zak Showalter added 13 for the University of Washington, but could not overcome the Badgers within 32-11 by Purdue stretched over the two halves.

UW-points 3 second guard Jordan Hill with 7 minutes, 55 seconds on the clock approached one of 66-57.

But Thompson responded with his sixth 3-pointer of the game after UW Hammons doubled in the post, leaving open at the top of the key Thompson.

After Showalter badgers reduce the deficit to single digits with a 3-pointer, Swanigan responded with one of their own to give Purdue a lead of 72-60 with 6:50 left.

Hayes scored nine straight points at the University of Washington during a stretch, including a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 76-69 Boilermakers with 4:46 remaining.

Badgers had a chance to pull closer, but Hayes was lost on drives to the rim on consecutive possessions.

Purdue finished the first half on a 21-8 run to take a 45-39 lead at halftime.

Thompson and Edwards each made two 3-pointers during that increase and combined for 8 of 9 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

UW shot 57.1 percent overall and 53.8 percent from 3-point range in the first half, but was topped by Purdue brands accounting for 63.0 and 66.7 percent, respectively, in those two categories.

starting frontcourt UW Hayes, Happ and junior forward Vitto Brown combined for 29 points shooting 12-of-17 in the first half.

Badgers led 31-24 after a basket with 7:07 Showalter left until halftime, but Purdue responded with a 10-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Thompson.

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