DETROIT — Michael Flowers continued to play relentless defense into the final minute Friday night. Joe Krabbenhoft crashed to the floor while attempting to contest a shot late in the game. Brian Butch still was battling for rebounds until he went to the bench with 22.1 seconds to play.

Ultimately, though, the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team will play together no more this season.

That is the stark reality for the sixth-ranked Badgers in the wake of a 73-56 loss Davidson in a NCAA tournament Midwest Regional semifinal game watched by a crowd of 57,028 at Ford Field.

"It just (stinks) that it all has to come to an end like this. We weren't expecting it. Just kind of out of nowhere, it comes to an end," UW senior center Greg Stiemsma said. "As much as it hurts now, as bad as it stings, it just kind of proves how much fun we were having this season and enjoying this ride."

Added Butch: "It's disappointing. It hurts. You just don't want to end it like that. Any loss at the end of the season is going to hurt. We just didn't play well. ... We just didn't play good enough. We just didn't get it going."

The third-seeded Badgers (31-5) and 10th-seeded Wildcats (29-6) played to a 36-36 halftime tie — an opening 20 minutes Davidson coach Bob McKillop called a "heavyweight battle between what I think are two programs that have a great system, offensively and defensively."

But starting in the second half, it was the Wildcats that landed the decisive blows.

Following a basket from the paint by UW junior forward Marcus Landry that pulled the Badgers within 48-45 with 13:46 to play, Davidson connected on a series of long-range haymakers that resulted in a 12-0 run and control of the game.

"When you see some of the shots those guys were hitting go down," Stiemsma said, "you feel that it just wasn't meant to be."

Wildcats sharpshooting sophomore guard Stephen Curry started the binge with a 3-pointer with 13:33 to play. Following a UW turnover, Curry buried another triple.

And after another UW giveaway, Davidson senior point guard Jason Richards (11 points, 13 assists, no turnovers) buried a 3-pointer of his own.

The masterstroke, to no surprise, was then supplied by Curry, who finished with a game-high 33 points (11-for-22 shooting, 6-for-11 on 3-pointers) to run his three-game NCAA tournament total to 103.

The 6-foot-2 son of former NBA player Dell Curry capped the flurry with another 3-pointer at 10:18 to push the Wildcats' advantage to 60-45.

"That was tough," Krabbenhoft said. "Four or five 3s in a row is tough, any game, any time, especially in the Sweet 16 and against a team like that, that takes care of the ball, and with a point guard like that. When they get the lead, I don't think anyone's come back on them all year."

And the Badgers weren't able to put together enough offense to get back into the game from there. UW, which shot just 23.8 percent (5-for-21) from the field in the second half, never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

"I didn't say, 'Oh, we're out of this game,' " Butch said. "I don't think anybody ... thought that either, because we've made comebacks. To win 30 times in a season, you've got to find different ways to win. We've found ways to come back, found ways to win. But tonight we just didn't make enough plays."

The end being that a Badgers team that won a school-record 31 games, an undisputed Big Ten Conference regular-season title and a Big Ten tournament title, won't take the court together again.

"All those things are great, and I'm so proud of them," UW coach Bo Ryan said. "But, you know, you always like 40 more minutes. We're not going to get it. We're not going to get it on the court. We can get it somewhere else, but (we're) just not going to get it on the court."