MADISON, Wisc. –The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros men's basketball team led for more than 75% of the game and never trailed by more than five in a hard-fought 87-84 loss the No. 19 Wisconsin Badgers on Monday at Kohl Center.
In total, the Vaqueros (3-3) led for 30:12, including as late as 5:08 remaining when it was 72-71. The Badgers' (5-0) largest lead was five at 82-77 with 2:09 left.
Senior
Hasan Abdul Hakim led the Vaqueros with 19 points and eight rebounds. Senior
K.T. Raimey scored 13 points with two steals. Junior
Trey Miller scored 12 points with six assists. Senior
Cliff Davis scored 10 points with one block. Junior
Howie Fleming Jr. scored 10 points. Sophomore
Tommy Gankhuyang finished with nine points and seven rebounds.
John Blackwell led the Badgers with 30 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
John Tonje scored 19 points.
Max Klesmit finished with 11 points.
The Vaqueros led by as many as seven, going up 61-54 on an Abdul Hakim 3 with 15:44 remaining in the second half. The Badgers responded with a 14-5 run to take a 68-66 lead.
Fleming used a pair of 3-pointers to give the Vaqueros leads of 69-68 and 72-71.
The Badgers hit their final field goal of the game, a Klesmit jumper, with 4:23 remaining, to take a 76-74 lead and then used free throws to go up 82-77, their largest lead, with 2:09 left.
The Vaqueros trailed 85-81 when graduate student
DK Thorn hit a 3-pointer with 1:02 left to make the score 85-84. The Vaqueros defended the next possession, causing a Klesmit miss and then ran down the clock before getting a mismatch with Abdul Hakim in the lane. His jumper missed off the right side of the rim. After a foul, Blackwell hit two free throws, and then a half court heave by the Vaqueros at the buzzer missed to end the game.
Down 2-0 after the opening possession, Abdul Hakim and Miller hit jumpers and Davis followed with a 3-pointer to give the Vaqueros a 7-2 lead. A Gankhuyang 3 pushed the lead to 10-4. The Vaqueros still led by six with 12:52 remaining when a Miller jumper made the score 16-10.
The Badgers scored the next six to tie the game before Raimey and senior
Kwo Agwa used 3-pointers to put the Vaqueros up 22-18.
The Badgers regained the lead at 29-28 before Abdul Hakim converted a 3-point play that started with a dunk.
Then, with the Badgers up 33-31, a pair of Abdul Hakim baskets powered a 9-2 run to put the Vaqueros up 40-35.
The Vaqueros went up seven for the first time at 45-38 with 3:43 remaining in the first half on a Davis 3-pointer.
The Vaqueros kick off a 7-game homestand on Monday, Nov. 25 at 6:30 p.m. when they host Le Moyne in the second game of a single-admission doubleheader with the women's basketball team, which hosts St. Mary's at 4 p.m., at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The first 500 fans receive Vaqueros game day t-shirts. The first 300 UTRGV students receive free food. Current UTRGV students can get $5 tickets for guests that aren't currently UTRGV students by clicking on the link sent to their UTRGV email addresses. Current UTRGV faculty and staff get free admission with an employee ID as part of faculty & staff appreciation night.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
UTRGVTickets.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at
GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. The party starts in Schlotzsky's Vaquero Village at 3 p.m.
Fans can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
Southland International.
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