After dominating at home early in the season, Illinois (18-13, 10-8 Big Ten) ended the regular season on a sour note Sunday, falling 72-57 to No. 15 Wisconsin (23-7, 13-5) at the Assembly Hall. The loss was the third in a row for the Illini, and it makes next weekend’s Big Ten Tournament even more critical if the Illini have any hope of an NCAA Tournament berth.

“It’s not a good feeling to lose a game that you thought you needed to have, especially for postseason chances,” junior forward Bill Cole said. “But I guess you got to look ahead to the Big Ten Tournament. We can cause a ruckus in there. I mean, we have the talent. It’s just a matter of playing up to our ability.”

With seven minutes to play, Illinois pulled to within five points of Wisconsin, but the Badgers went on a 17-7 run in the final five minutes and 23 seconds to drive the nail into the Illini coffin.

When the Illini pulled it close, head coach Bruce Weber called a timeout to tell his squad what would happen if they didn’t take full advantage of the opportunity.

“I called them over, I said, ‘You’re going to have one opportunity to grab the game. You’ve got to play smart on both ends of the court,’” Weber said. “We had three straight possessions on the other end and two air balls and the turnover on the offensive end with shutouts. Sooner or later against a good team, they’re going to grab the game, and that’s what happened.”

Leading the way for the Badgers offense in the first half was forward Jon Leuer. The junior had 12 points before the half, but Leuer was limited in the second half after picking up his third foul less than two minutes in. Despite playing with four fouls most of the second half, Leuer finished with 20 points.

Leuer was out with a wrist injury when the Illini defeated the Badgers in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 9. And while Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan wouldn’t admit that the forward was the difference between the games, Cole said Leuer was a big part of the Badgers’ changed attack on Sunday.

“Leuer’s obviously a great player,” Cole said. “He’s a big difference in their team because then you’ve also got to watch (junior forward Keaton) Nankivil because he can pop and shoot the 3, so I think he was a big difference.”

Sophomore Jordan Taylor added another 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Badgers. Ryan praised the defensive effort of his 6-foot-1 guard.

“His heart’s twice as big as he is, and he knew he had to reach down for a little extra,” Ryan said. “He had to not only guard (Demetri) McCamey but also handle the ball. Our strength coach, conditioning coach does a heck of a job.”

McCamey was plagued by foul trouble early, scoring just two points in the first half and picking up a pair of fouls. McCamey finished with 11 points on 2-for-8 shooting. The guard’s frustration boiled over in an intentional foul with 5:12 to play. What followed was a heated discussion with his coach.

“Just trying to teach him how to play, make good decisions,” Weber said.

It was junior center Mike Tisdale who led the Illini offense on the afternoon with 16 points, while Cole chipped in 14.

Bubba Chisholm, Dominique Keller and Rich Semrau were honored on Sunday for Senior Day, and each saw the court, too, with Chisholm making a layup in the final minute.

“Obviously it’s disappointing any time you lose on your home court or even for Senior Day. I feel bad for our seniors,” Tisdale said. “But it’s not the end of the world. It just feels like it. We got a week to prepare for whoever we’re going to play.”