La Crosse's King plays 27 minutes off bench, hits clutch FTs but doesn't shoot well

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Statistically, La Crosse native Kobe King didn’t do much in the 64-60 loss to Maryland on Monday.

The redshirt freshman for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team did play 27 minutes. King didn’t shoot great — just 1-for-6 from the field, 1 of 2 from beyond the arc.

But, after being down 21 points in the second half, it was a pair of King free throws with 4:18 remaining that pulled the Badgers within 57-54.

On the next possession, Nate Reuvers nailed a tying 3-pointer, capping off an 8-0 run.

Maryland (15-3, 6-1) took the lead right back on a pair of free throws.

Wisconsin, however, finally overcame that huge deficit when Brad Davidson nailed a 3-pointer with 2:01 remaining, giving his team a 60-59 lead.

It stayed that way for what maybe seemed like an eternity. Both teams ate clock and came up short on back-to-back possessions — Anthony Cowan, Jr., missing a layup for Maryland and Davidson missing a 3-pointer.

With 44 seconds left, Cowan, Jr., didn’t miss. His 3-pointer gave Maryland a 62-60 lead and that was enough. Reuvers missed 3-pointers on Wisconsin’s next two possessions. Maryland made half its free throws.

As for King, the minutes came, perhaps, because Khalil Iverson played just 13.

King, who had three rebounds and no other stats, had played under 16 minutes in six of the previous eight games — the two others were blowout wins over Savannah State and Grambling.

Wisconsin now looks to a matchup with No. 2-ranked Michigan on Saturday. Of course, with Duke losing Monday, the Wolverines are the defacto No. 1 team … for the Badgers to beat.