Taylor Lilley hit a three-pointer with 4.8 seconds left to give the Ducks a 57-56 lead. Wisconsin inbounded the ball and raced down the floor and put up a desperation shot at the buzzer that did not go in.
Game over, right?
Wrong.
An inadvertent whistle with 2.4 seconds left gave the Badgers another chance. Wisconsin's Lin Zastrow caught a log pass underneath the hoop and scored as the buzzer sounded to give the visiting Badgers (5-1) a controversial win over the Ducks. Oregon (4-1) suffered its first loss on the young season.
"I thought we were in good position," said Oregon coach Paul Westhead on the very last play of game. "I thought we had had too much time. We were more than willing to give a foul, but it was a perfect storm. It was a very good pass in and we didn't get a chance to foul."
Amanda Johnson led the Ducks with 19 points and Lilley added 12 for an Oregon team that was clearly fatigued after playing its fourth game in a week. The Ducks shot just 36.5 percent on 19-of-52 from the floor.
"We didn't shoot very well and didn't do as good a job on the offensive glass," Johnson said. "When we're not rebounding it puts more pressure on our shooters."
Wisconsin used its size and patience to slow the Ducks high-tempo offensive attack. Oregon actually outrebounded the bigger Big 10 team, but Wisconsin's size affected the Ducks.
Oregon struggled with its outside shooting for the first time all season as the Ducks hit just four three point baskets on the night.
"Offensively, we didn't knock down some shots that we needed to make in order to get running," Westhead said. "We need to run the ball better. We were playing Wisconsin style basketball, but we allowed it. Whoever the opponent is we need to exert our running game upon them. Tonight the pace of the game was not what we would have liked."
The two teams went back and forth all night long. Johnson hit a jumper with 4:11 remaining to give the Ducks a 54-53 lead. For the next four minutes, the score stayed that way until Alyssa Karel nailed a three from the right corner to give her Badgers a 56-54 lead with 10 seconds left. Oregon hurried the ball down the floor before calling a timeout.
The Ducks set a high post screen to free up up Lilley, who had been cold all night, but managed to hit the 25-footer from the right wing for what seemed like the game-winner.
