Wisconsin Wisconsin/Indiana Indiana Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

CHICAGO (AP) – When Kirk Haston left his hotel room Friday morning, there were clothes strewn all over and his suitcase was empty. After two years of first-game exits at the Big Ten tournament, he wanted to make sure Indiana had a reason to stick around.

The sloppy karma worked. Thanks to 19 points from Haston and a stifling defense that held No. 23 Wisconsin without a field goal for almost 14½ minutes, Indiana cruised to a 64-52 victory in the Big Ten quarterfinals.

"I love this town. I'm tired of staying here one day and then leaving and packing the bags," Haston said. "I left all my stuff all over the hotel room to make sure I was coming back to stay the night."

Indiana outrebounded the Badgers 36-25, and had a huge edge at the free throw line. Indiana (20-11) made 26 of 35 free throws, while Wisconsin went to the line just 10 times, making seven of them. It was the first victory in the conference tournament since 1998 for the Hoosiers, who were 1-3 in the tournament under Bob Knight.

Indiana will play Saturday in the semifinals against Illinois, which defeated Purdue 83-66 later Friday.

Wisconsin (18-10) went home without a victory in the tournament for the first time in four years. Mark Vershaw was the only Badger in double figures with 10 points.

"I'm disappointed in what I think is a lack of a will to win," said Brad Soderberg, Wisconsin's interim coach. "We've struggled to score for six straight years, so today was nothing new. But I saw what I didn't like and that was a lukewarm effort."

Indiana never gave the Badgers a chance to get hot. The Hoosiers have held their last four opponents under 60 points, the first of those efforts coming Feb. 24 in an 85-55 rout of Wisconsin.

Indiana shot a blistering 70.2 percent that day, its best shooting performance since 1989, and the fourth-best in school history.

The Hoosiers didn't come close to matching that Friday, shooting 46 percent, but it didn't matter. The Badgers, who lead the nation in scoring defense, were beaten at their own game as Indiana held Wisconsin to 37.7 percent shooting.

"People always talk about Wisconsin's defense and we believe we have just as good a defense," said Tom Coverdale, who had 10 points, including 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

After Ricky Bower's 3-pointer with 4:59 left in the first half, Wisconsin went the next 14:24 without a field goal. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Badgers managed just two points during the span, a pair of Vershaw free throws.

Vershaw finally broke the drought on a tip-in with 10:36 left to play, but by that time, Indiana had a 41-32 lead.

"Down the stretch we were forcing Wisconsin to take quick shots. That's not what they're used to, that's not what they want to do," Haston said. "When they started taking quick shots down the stretch, that was a big advantage for us."

Wisconsin managed to cut the lead to 54-49 on a Charlie Wills' 3-pointer with 4:25 left. But Wisconsin was forced to foul Indiana, and the Hoosiers made 12 of 14 free throws in the final 3:58.

The Hoosiers won handily even without Kyle Hornsby, who missed the game because of a sprained ankle. Hornsby was 5-of-6 from 3-point range against the Badgers last month.

Jeffrey Newton had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Hoosiers, and Jared Jeffries added 14 points and seven boards. Newton and Jeffries blocked two shots each.

"Last time, the defense was really good and Wisconsin got most of their scoring late," said Mike Davis, Indiana's interim coach. "I knew we wouldn't win by 30 today, but I thought we could win by 10 or 12."

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Indiana's Jared Jeffries sends Andy Kowske's shot into the crowd.
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Indiana's Tom Coverdale finds a streaking Jeffrey Newton for the big slam.
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Wisconsin's Andy Kowske slams it home off the feed from Kirk Penney.
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Indiana's Kirk Haston goes old school as he hits the hook shot over Andy Kowske.
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