Last year's national runner up started the season in shocking fashion when No. 17 Wisconsin was upset by Western Illinois, 69-67, on Friday night in Madison.
It was the first season-opening loss for the Badgers since Bo Ryan's first season as head coach, when Wisconsin fell to UNLV in 2001. It was Western Illinois' first win against a Big Ten team since 1994.
Wisconsin scored just 23 points in the second half and shot 35.5 percent from the field on the night, making just seven of its 21 3-point attempts, while Western Illinois shot 54 percent from the field.
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The Badgers led by seven at halftime, but the Leathernecks opened the second half with a 7-0 run to tie the game not three minutes into the period. Western Illinois took an eight-point lead with a 9-1 run in the middle of the second half, and that's where it stood with five minutes to play.
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Vitto Brown did his best to claw the Badgers back into the game, hitting a jumper, grabbing a rebound, hitting a pair of free throws, blocking a shot and grabbing two more rebounds during a terrific stretch to set up a Bronson Koenig jumper that cut Western's lead to two with three minutes left. And after a Leathernecks spurt extended things back out to five, Koenig hit a 3 with two and a half minutes left to make it a two-point game again. After getting a steal, Brown got a layup to tie the game with two minutes to go.
Wisconsin missed a couple chances to take a late lead, and Western's Garrett Covington hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to give the Leathernecks a lead. Koenig's jumper to tie missed as time expired, and the Badgers lost.
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Koenig and Nigel Hayes each had 17 points to lead the Badgers. Brown scored 11 points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked two shots and had a pair of steals.
Wisconsin next faces Siena on Sunday.