Overtime: Wisconsin's Third Uninspiring Effort is Has Alarm Bells Sounding

In what very well could be considered the worst loss of the Greg Gard era, and just by the scoreline alone, it was, Wisconsin (7-3, 1-1) was trounced 90-60 by No. 23 Nebraska (10-0, 1-0) on Wednesday. After a competitive opening 15 minutes, including a five-point lead by the Badgers, pretty much nothing went right the rest of the way. Another lackluster and uninspiring defensive effort was exploited by the Cornhuskers, who led by as many as 33 points.

“Credit to Nebraska. They beat us every way possible,” Gard told reporters. “There wasn’t another facet in the game of basketball that they couldn’t kick our rear end with. They did it all.”

The Badgers Continue to Leave Their Defense in Madison

Nebraska isn’t this offensive juggernaut. The Huskers are certainly respectable and have the ability to explode here and there, but you would have thought they were an elite offensive club based on what they did to Wisconsin on Wednesday night.

NU shot 54.1 percent from the field, including 37 percent from 3-point range. The Huskers had assists on 20 of their 33 made field goal attempts and scored on 58 of their offensive possessions. NU also racked up 17 dunks or layups, leading to a whopping 44 points in the paint. None of that damage was done in transition, either. It was all in the halfcourt.

In the Badgers’ three losses this season, all away from home, opponents are averaging 87.3 points per game while shooting a combined 49.4 percent.

“We don’t have a defensive identity,” said Gard. “Haven’t had one all year. So we’ll search to find one, and I’ll find guys that want to play defense.”

Wisconsin Fell in Love With the 3-Pointer

Gard said he won’t micromanage 3-pointers and wants Wisconsin taking a ton this season. He’s not wrong, given the makeup of this roster, but the Badgers definitely overdid it.

UW went 7-of-32 from downtown. At one point, the Badgers attempted 13 consecutive 3-pointers. 15 of their first 20 field goal attempts came from beyond the arc.

You want to live by the 3-pointer? Okay, but if they’re not going down, Wisconsin has to have some options beyond the pick n’ roll to get easy buckets. And how do you do that without a back-to-the-basket big man? Your guards better be pretty good at breaking down defenses, and on Wednesday, they weren’t, as the Badgers finished with just 24 points in the paint.

“We stopped moving the ball,” Gard said. “Our best possessions were possessions with the fewest amount of dribbles. Then, when we did get to the paint, we didn’t execute and finish something good, or plant, and find the shooters. We did them a lot of favors from an offensive standpoint with how we executed.”

The Star Players Didn’t Show Up

John Blackwell made his first shot from the field. He would miss the next 10. Blackwell really didn’t make his presence felt throughout the game in any fashion.

Nick Boyd did score a game-high 20 points (7-16), but once again, he forced a lot of shots, committed bad turnovers, and took Wisconsin out of rhythm by over-dribbling. The senior committed three of the team’s 11 turnovers.

Nolan Winter did have 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but also had two turnovers, and mostly struggled to do anything of note offensively when teammates didn’t create for him. Winter also had a terrible time defending Nebraska forward Rienk Mast, who scored with ease on the block and got lost in the pick-and-pop en route to 17 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists in just 26 minutes.

Game Ball

Wasn’t really blown away by any individual performance, but Andrew Rohde was the one guy who seemed to show some real want-to on Wednesday. He lost Nebraska sniper Pryce Sandfort on defense a few times, but on an end of the floor where Wisconsin lacked energy, Rohde seemed to have some. Rohde was also the one guy who played within the flow of the offense and didn’t damage the Badgers with bad shots, but instead often got two feet in the paint and made something happen.

Like everyone else, Rohde didn’t shoot it well, going 2-of-7 en route to six points, but the senior guard had a team-high four assists with zero turnovers.

Big Picture

I knew this team would be a work in progress defensively, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. The awful defense in each of Wisconsin’s three losses this season has seemingly affected everything else.

The Badgers shot a season-low 34.4 percent against Nebraska. The 21.9 percent clip from 3-point range was also the worst mark this season. The Badgers posted one block and four steals, which were also season lows.

For what it’s worth, Gard has a history of being able to right the ship. That’s kind of his m.o. How many times have people written him off, only to see Gard rise like a phoenix from the ashes?

Unlike football, in basketball, you don’t live game-to-game, but this is the third embarrassing loss for Wisconsin…and it’s December 10. BYU was supposed to be the wake-up call defensively. That loss on Nov. 21 was previously Gard’s most lopsided defeat. Then, it was TCU. Two games later, here we are, back at the bottom of the hill again.

“Everyone is all ‘rah-rah’ about our offense, but it’s the other end of the floor that’s cost us the trouble for the most part,” said Gard.

Beyond the Box Score

1.34: Nebraska averaged 1.34 points per possession.

6:39: The Badgers went 6:39 without a made field goal in the first half.

8: UW had assists on eight of its first 10 made field goals.

8: Nebraska made eight of 10 shots at one point in the first half.

9: Boyd scored or assisted on nine of the first 16 points for UW.

10: The Huskers ended the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 47-31 lead into the break.

10: Blackwell missed his final 10 field goal attempts.

11: NU scored 11 unanswered points to open up a 77-48 lead in the second half.

13: The Badgers attempted 13 consecutive 3-pointers in the first half.

18: The Huskers used an 18-3 run in the second half to take an 84-51 lead. NU made six consecutive shots during that run.

21.9: UW shot a season-low 21.9 percent from 3-point range.