Herd suffer fourth straight loss after 153-132 defeat to Delaware

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Jacob Link / Advance-Titan — The Herd’s Brandon Randolph flies through the air in Wisconsin’s 115-104 loss to Memphis Jan. 11 at the Oshkosh Arena.

Jacob Link, Co-Sports Editor

The Wisconsin Herd lost their four straight game Jan. 16 when the Delaware Blue Coats blew out the Herd 153-132 at the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington.

Delaware (6-3) led throughout the whole game after guard Chase McClung, who had a game-high 40 points and career-high seven 3-pointers, hit a jumper for the first points of the contest. The Blue Coats would jump out to a 15-3 lead, but Wisconsin (3-4) fought back to tie the game at 27 with just under three minutes to play in the first quarter. Delaware’s Patrick McCaw scored four points in the final 30 seconds and the Blue Coats led 38-32 at the end of the first period.

A McClung four-point play put Delaware up 12 points in the first minute of the second quarter, but the Herd would cut the lead to 58-55 midway through the period behind 21 first half points from Lindell Wigginton. Wisconsin continued to stay within 10 points of the Blue Coats as the Herd entered the locker room at halftime down 76-67.

The Blue Coats started the third quarter with five quick points to increase their lead to 14 points, but the Herd came to within four after they went on a 10-0 run with help from newly acquired forward Paris Bass. Delaware’s offense suddenly came to life, capping a 10-0 run with Louis King hitting back to back 3-pointers with under seven minutes to go in the quarter to put the Blue Coats up 18 points. Delaware led by more than 10 points for the rest of the third quarter, going into the break up 116-103.

Wisconsin started the fourth quarter on a 13-5 run and cut the lead to five points following a Bass free-throw. What came next was total domination from McClung, who scored 15 straight points in under two minutes, hitting four 3-pointers in a row, to put Delaware up 136-120. The Herd could not find a rhythm after that as the Blue Coats went on to win by 21 points.

Wigginton finished with 29 points, six rebounds and five assists on six for nine shooting from beyond the arc. Bass, who was added to the roster from the NBA G League player pool on Jan. 9, scored 27 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. Starters Rob Edwards and Jordan Bone scored 18 and 17 points, respectively, while Elijah Hughes added 19 points off the bench.

For Delaware, McClung almost had a double-double in the game, grabbing eight rebounds to go along with his 40 points. King scored 23 points on five for nine shooting from beyond the arc while Center Michael Foster Jr. added 17 points and 10 rebounds. The Blue Coats had four other double-digit scorers in Charlie Brown Jr. (13),  Julian Champagne (16), Braxton Key (14) and Justin Smith (10).

Both teams shot 50% from the floor, with the Herd shooting 50% in 3-point shooting compared to the Blue Coat’s 40 %. Turnovers was the story of the game with the Herd finishing with 26 turnovers compared to Delaware’s 19.

Just two days earlier, Wisconsin lost their third straight game when the Fort Wayne Mad Ants defeated the Herd 129-123 Jan. 14 at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Herd led through three quarters, but Fort Wayne (4-3) outscored Wisconsin 33-26 in the final period to pull off the win. Wigginton scored 32 points in the contest but Wisconsin could not stop Mad Ants forward Justin Anderson, who scored 38 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

In the first game of their three-game road trip, the Herd fell to the Cleveland Charge (6-1) 115-96 Jan.13 at the Wolstein Center. Wisconsin was outscored in every quarter of the game and the Charge shot 50% from the floor, compared to 40% from the Herd. Cleveland Cavaliers two-way player Isaiah Mobley scored 30 points and grabbed 10 boards while Bone scored 21 points for the Herd.

Wisconsin had their three-game win streak snapped Jan. 11 when the Herd was defeated 115-104 by the Memphis Hustle (6-1). After falling down 12 points at the end of the first quarter, the Herd cut the lead to just five points at halftime before being outscored 32-23 in the third quarter as the Hustle held on for the win. Wigginton was again the leading scorer for the Herd with 20 points and became the all-time assists leader for Wisconsin in the game after dishing out six assists.

The Herd, who sit ninth in the Eastern Conference, will take on the Westchester Knicks (2-4) Jan. 18 at 11:30 a.m. at the Oshkosh Arena.