MADISON, Wis. — Just four nights after dropping triple digits in its home opener, the NIU men’s basketball team nearly ended up on the receiving end of the same fate.
The Huskies (1-1) suffered their first loss of the new season Friday night, succumbing to the 24th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers (2-2) and an ear-piercing crowd of 15,222 inside the Kohl Center.
In its first meeting with Wisconsin since 2002, NIU didn’t lead for a second. The Badgers took just 17 seconds to score and never looked back, rolling to a 97-72 victory and a 13-2 lead in the all-time series.
“It was a challenge for us,” head coach Rashon Burno said. “We responded well in spurts, but we’ve got to do some soul searching in regards to what our focus needs to be when it comes to playing on the road.”
UCF transfer forward JJ Taylor spearheaded the losing effort with a career scoring night. The Chicago native put up 17 points in his first start of the new season — most of them coming from his 9-of-12 free-throw shooting — to beat his previous best of 14.
Jao Ituka was NIU’s only other double-digit scorer. Ituka once again came off the bench to produce 13 points, along with a team-best five rebounds and two steals.
Defensively, the Huskies struggled to contain the Badgers, who shot nearly 50% from the field and had three players in double figures. Guard John Blackwell tallied 15 points, while 7-footer Nolan Winter added 12 points and led the game with seven rebounds and two blocks.
NIU’s biggest headache of the night, however, was guard Nick Boyd. The senior scored a career-high 25 points on 50% shooting, including eight of Wisconsin’s first 15 points.
“With Boyd shooting the ball the way he shot it, the first four to six minutes really put us on our heels,” Burno said. “It was one of these games where you had to punch first and keep punching, because this team is very, very good.”
Wisconsin continued its dominance for most of the first half, going up as much as 40-18 with 7:45 left. Boyd drained three triples during the frame and entered halftime with a game-high 18 points — better than NIU’s team total at one point.
The Huskies trimmed their deficit to 52-33 by the break. Ituka led their first-half scoring with 11 points off the bench, followed by Taylor with 10 points. NIU was outshot 51.7% (15-29) to 46.2% (12-26) and outrebounded 21-10 in the first half.
Burno began to rely more heavily on his reserves in the second half as starters continued to struggle or ran into foul trouble. Daemar Kelly, Makhai Valentine and Hassan “Tre” Washington — the first two being starters — fouled out of the game. NIU’s seven bench players totaled 31 of its 72 points while playing a combined 81 minutes.
“Our guys scrapped back, (and I) really was happy with the bench that came in and gave us a spark when the starters were struggling,” Burno said.
With nearly three-and-a-half minutes remaining, and the Badgers leading 86-61, Wisconsin fans began chanting, “We want a hundred!”
And they almost got it. Almost.
The Huskies cut their deficit down by 2 points before Isaac Gard — son of Badgers head coach Greg Gard — sank a triple and two free throws to grant Wisconsin its largest lead of the night, 97-69, with 24 ticks left, sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
NIU closed out the scoring shortly thereafter, as true freshman Max Laskey scored his first collegiate points off a 3-pointer with 2 seconds to go.
While the loss goes down the Huskies’ first of the 2025-26 campaign, Ituka said it’s not one they’ll need to loom on.
“This was a very, very tough opponent,” Ituka said. “I’m just glad we came out here and did the best we could. This isn’t a loss to hang your head on.”
