MADISON, Wis. — Illinois men’s basketball head coach Bruce Weber stressed early this week that his team needed another scorer in crunch-time aside from Demetri McCamey, especially when the senior point guard is having an off game.

But for the second straight game, no Illini player stepped up as McCamey struggled offensively, shooting just 3-of-13 from the field as the Illini fell to Wisconsin, 76-66, at the Kohl Center on Saturday.

”Down the stretch, we need guys to step up,” Illini forward Tyler Griffey said. “We’ve got some guys that are very capable. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that today.”

The Illini had plenty of opportunities to close the gap down the stretch as their press repeatedly forced the Badgers into turnovers.

But Illinois was never able to cut the Wisconsin lead to less than six in the closing three minutes, which amounted to 20 minutes of real time.

Each team beat its season high in free throw attempts, as McCamey shot 21 of the Illini’s 36 total, and Wisconsin shot 41.

“We felt like the refs were calling a lot of ticky-tack fouls, but at the same time you can’t blame them,” sophomore Brandon Paul said. “They should have just let us play.”

The shots didn’t fall early for an Illinois team that has shot 41 percent or below in four of its five losses.

The Illini scored just 11 points in the opening 15 minutes and shot just 30 percent for the game.

Still, the score was tight entering halftime as a Tim Jarmusz 3-pointer put the Badgers up 27-25 to end the half.

The Illini’s downfall, though, came at the beginning of the second half as Wisconsin came out with a 10-0 run, which included two Keaton Nankivil 3-pointers, and the Badgers would never give up the lead.

“The second half, we knew what they were going to do, you just have to execute on defense,” Weber said. “That run is the difference in the game. Other than that, it was really the same. The rest of the game was pretty even.”

Wisconsin was able to win a must-needed game after relinquishing a nine-point lead in an overtime loss to Michigan State on Tuesday.

They now sit at 3-2 in conference play, tied with the Illini.

John Leuer scored 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting in the game after scoring just 10 against the Spartans.

“I felt like, after Michigan State, I let my team down by not being aggressive and making good reads,” Leuer said. “I felt like tonight I did a better job of that … It was a total effort from everybody. That was good for us to get back on track.”

The loss puts the Illini in the midst of their second losing streak of the season as they set to face No. 24 Michigan State and No. 2 Ohio State at the Assembly Hall this week.

After Saturday’s loss, the next two games become crucial for an Illinois team trying to stay in the Big Ten race and above .500 in conference play.

“We’ve just got to talk to (the younger players), take them under our wing,” senior Bill Cole said. “We expect to win these next two games.”