MADISON, Wis. — Indiana basketball center Kel'el Ware didn't play in 91-79 loss to Wisconsin on Friday night after suffering an foot injury in practice in the days leading up to the game.

While Ware made the trip to Madison — he was listed as questionable on IU's injury availability report — he didn't participate in pre-game warmups and came out of the tunnel at the Kohl Center before tipoff wearing street clothes and a boot on his right foot.

Ware is averaging 14.2 points and team-high 9.4 rebounds per game.

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Indiana coach Mike Woodson told reporters after the game he didn't have a timeline for Ware's return to the lineup.

"He came down on somebody's foot and turned his ankle," Woodson said. "It blew up on us."

Ware struggled in his showdown against Purdue's Zach Edey earlier in the week. He got in foul trouble early in the first half and ended up only playing 26 minutes in the 87-66 loss. The defending Big Ten player of the year had a game-high 33 points and 14 rebounds.

“Edey kind of had his way,” Woodson said.

Ware's injury left IU short-handed against a Wisconsin team with plenty of size in the front court between 7-foot-0 center Steven Crowl (12 points and 7.8 rebounds per game) along with 6-foot-9 Tyler Wahl (11.7 points and 5.8 rebounds). Crowl hit his season averages in the win with 12 points (4 of 6) and eight rebounds, but Wahl only had eight points and was in foul trouble in the second half.

Woodson said one of the few positives in the game was how Payton Sparks played in Ware's absence. Sparks had seven points, two rebounds, one block and two steals before fouling out with 2:53 to go. It was the Ball State transfer's second-career start for the Hoosiers.

The good news for Indiana is it has nine days off before it plays at Illinois on Jan. 27.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana's Kel'el Ware misses Wisconsin game with foot injury