MADISON, Wis. — Kobe King may be emerging as a force for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team.
Now, perhaps his team will recognize it, too.
The La Crosse native was 10-for-13 from the floor Wednesday, scoring a game-high 21 points. He nailed a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to pull the Badgers within a point.
But, when Wisconsin almost immediately got the ball back after a missed bonus free throw, King never touched the ball.
Instead, D’Mitrik Trice missed a layup, that’s conveniently omitted from both the Big Ten Network and Illini highlights (Wisconsin doesn’t have video up), and the Badgers fell 71-70 at the Kohl Center.
That snapped a 15-game losing streak to the Badgers (9-6, 2-2) for Illinois (11-5 3-2), which hadn’t won a game against UW since 2011.
The loss also ends Wisconsin’s four-game win streak. The Badgers were coming off an upset win over No. 5 Ohio State, in which King was 6-for-7, scoring 13 points.
So, in two games, King is now 16 of 20 from the field. In three games before that — all blowout wins — the redshirt sophomore went scoreless in two, and scored four points in the other, combining to shoot just 2-for-10.
King, who was 4 of 6 for nine points in the first half, scored eight of the Badgers’ first nine points to open the second half. Later, he had a dunk (seen here) to put Wisconsin up 59-53 with 7:11 to play.
The Badgers maintained a slim lead late in the second half, but didn’t score a basket for nearly two minutes. The Illini tied the game 63-63 on back-to-back 3s by Griffin with 3:22 left.
The teams exchanged leads one more time, before Ayo Dosunmu’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds to play gave Illinois a 71-67 lead, before King’s final 3-pointer.
TOP PHOTO: Wisconsin’s Kobe King (23) shoots between Illinois’ Trent Frazier, left, and Da’Monte Williams during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)