Wisconsin Basketball: 3 Takeaways From Disappointing Loss to Penn State

Greg Gard and the red-hot No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers basketball team traveled to the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday night to take on a Penn State squad led by new head coach Mike Rhoades.

When the clock struck zero, the Penn State students stormed the court, and the first-place Badgers were no longer the only unblemished team in Big Ten play, losing to the Nittany Lions 87-83.

With the loss, Wisconsin basketball falls to 13-4, with a 5-1 standing in the Big Ten on the season, maintaining their position in first place. In a perfect world, this game will be a valuable source of teachable moments for the program moving forward, much like the early loss to Providence. 

What did we learn from this Wisconsin Badgers road loss? 

Wisconsin Basketball Couldn’t Get Stops on Defense

Most seasons, the Wisconsin basketball program hangs its hat on what they accomplish on the defensive end. While that might be slightly less true with this group, the Badgers defense had no answers for Penn State.

The Nittany Lions collectively shot 53% from the field for the game and were killed by their backcourt duo of Kanye Clary and Ace Baldwin Jr, in particular. The two players accounted for 47 points on the night and 32 of the 48 second-half points from Penn State.

Wisconsin either cut the lead to a single point or tied the game seven separate times against Penn State but couldn’t make any additional headway because the Badgers’ cohesion wasn’t there on the defensive end, which allowed them to shoot 60.7% from the field in the second half.

Every time Wisconsin basketball strung something together and built momentum, Mike Rhoades’ team had a counterpunch. Stopping dribble penetration and getting over the top of screens was a struggle.

Credit to Penn State, they came out hot, started to believe, and played more physically than Wisconsin did. Greg Gard isn’t going to be pleased with the 1.261 points per possession allowed.

Right now, Wisconsin basketball is No. 62 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to T-Rank. Let’s hope this poor defensive effort against Penn State sparks a return to form like we saw in the Fort Meyers Tip-Off against Virginia rather than become a trend.

Wisconsin Basketball Offense Continues to Get It Done

As poor as the defense was against Penn State, the Wisconsin basketball team’s offense continued rolling. 

The Wisconsin Badgers scored 70+ points for the 11th straight game and, on paper, did more than enough to win on that end of the court. They shot 48.3 percent from the floor, 44% from beyond the arc, and went 20-for-23 from the charity stripe (87%) while finishing at 1.238 PPP. 

AJ Storr finished with a team-high 23 points and was one of five Badgers players to reach double figures in scoring. Notably, Steven Crowl had a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double on 8-of-11 shooting. 

AJ Storr elevates with such ease. 🚀

Here’s the latest proof.@storr_aj x @BadgerMBB pic.twitter.com/2WSAasIkLH

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 17, 2024

With Max Klesmit in foul trouble for much of the night, freshman John Blackwell stepped up in a big way, playing 23 minutes and scoring 14 points of his own while making seven of his eight free throw attempts. 

I also wanted to mention that forward Markus Ilver gave Greg Gard some excellent minutes in the first half. He’s talked about wanting to find him some opportunities, and Ilver delivered. The 6-foot-8 junior chipped in three points, five rebounds, one assist, and a block in just five minutes.

T-Rank has Wisconsin basketball up to No. 5 in adjusted offensive efficiency, and they’re showing no signs of letting up. All the pieces are in place for this group to score each night, but the Badgers need to improve defensively between now and March. 

Turnovers Were an Issue

Death. Taxes. Wisconsin taking care of the basketball. These are supposed to be the only three certainties in this life. 

However, the Wisconsin Badgers were careless with the basketball against Penn State, finishing with 13 total turnovers. The Nittany Lions scored 16 points off those turnovers and did an excellent job running the Badgers off the line early and making post entries difficult. 

Penn State’s defensive effort was commendable, and they did an excellent job mixing defensive looks to keep the Badgers off balance, whether it be applying pressure full court off a made basket or showing some zone looks. It helped PSU dictate the tempo of the game all night.  

Hopefully, the turnovers will not become a trend for the Wisconsin basketball team because they also had 12 against Northwestern. Either way, it’s a tough loss, but these things happen in the Big Ten, and it’s nothing to lose sleep over.

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