Wisconsin Basketball Unravels, Loses to Nebraska: Here’s What Stood Out

In consecutive seasons, Greg Gard and the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program went down to Nebraska, jumped out to a big lead, and blew said lead in frustrating fashion, falling to Fred Hoiberg and the Cornhuskers.

This time, the No. 6 Wisconsin Badgers (16-5, 8-2 B1G) blew a 16-point halftime lead, reaching 19 at one point, before unraveling and losing 80-72 in OT on Thursday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena. 

Here’s what stood out from the Wisconsin basketball team’s crushing road loss to Nebraska. 

The Wisconsin Basketball Frontcourt Got Manhandled

Let’s start here. The Wisconsin Badgers’ frontcourt duo of Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl were essentially non-factors on the offensive end. Credit to Nebraska for doubling the post as often as they did and making them frustrated, but there was no response. 

There’s no reason a Wisconsin basketball team built like this should have 31 of its 64-shot attempts come from beyond the arc. 

Crowl took a season-low two shot attempts on the night, scoring one point while hauling in 13 rebounds. He’s been one of the Badgers’ most consistent players all season—and a low-post facilitator for this offense. But against Nebraska, he looked out of sorts. 

“I thought he [Crowl] was not aggressive enough,” Gard said. “Whether he is double-teamed or not, he’s got to play with more force inside.”

Then there’s Wahl, who scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds but took only five shots all night. It doesn’t help that their bench options, Carter Gilmore and Nolan Winter, combined to go 1-of-9 from the field.

Wisconsin basketball can typically play through the post to re-set and calm things down when their opponent goes on a run. It’s something the Badgers have found success doing for years. But against Nebraska, they avoided it like the plague, leaving them scrambling.

Wisconsin Basketball Got Away From Core Principles 

As mentioned above, Wisconsin basketball didn’t touch the low post often enough, and the Badgers sure as hell didn’t take care of the rock. 

Ball security has been an issue for the Badgers intermittently, but on Thursday night, it’s what sunk Wisconsin, who registered a season-high 16 turnovers against Nebraska. 

With the exception of Wahl, who had one, every starter recorded multiple turnovers. Notably, AJ Storr had five, and Max Klesmit had four. 

I also wasn’t particularly impressed with the defense—which allowed 1.127 PPP. Early on, the Badgers were pretty solid in their rotations, but after halftime, it felt like Nebraska could get downhill with no problem. 

C.J. Wilcher, who scored 22 points, deserves a ton of credit for hitting a series of tough shots and going on an absolute heater. But we’ve gotten to a point in the season where it feels like Wisconsin basketball is a meh to pretty good defense at best—which isn’t what we’re accustomed to. 

“I thought we got completely away from what makes us good,” Gard told reporters. “The shots we settled for at times and then obviously turning the ball over. Gambling defensively when we didn’t need to gamble. Just doing some very uncharacteristic things.”

That seems like a pretty good summation to me from Greg Gard. What we saw down the stretch simply isn’t who we know the Wisconsin Badgers to be, and hopefully, it’s just a one-off they can learn from. 

Other Wisconsin Badgers Musings 

Sophomore forward AJ Storr finished with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc.

What a shot from AJ Storr. 😤@storr_aj x @BadgerMBB pic.twitter.com/hMPqaLMMCy

— Big Ten Men’s Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 2, 2024

I want to make it clear Storr was awesome on the offensive end. He poured in Wisconsin’s first 10 points and even had 18 at the half. But some of the decision-making last night against Nebraska was questionable at best.

In my opinion, there were a lot of forced shots, iffy defense, and poor shot selection, coupled with five turnovers. It’s an area that Storr continues to work on, and he’s grown a ton throughout the season, but last night highlighted a few of the flaws in his game.

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It might be time to start finding some second-half minutes for Connor Essegian.

Since the calendar turned to 2024, the Indiana native has connected on 9-of-19 three-point attempts (47.3%) and been a nice spark plug for the offense in his limited minutes.

While I’m not advocating for a huge uptick, I think Essegian’s shown what he has to offer even in the spot minutes he’s providing. While he may never be a great defender, it’s worth noting there’s been improvement.

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Greg Gard deserves some backlash for last night. Yes, as the head coach, the wins and losses are always on you, but his lack of bench usage in the second half led to the starters noticeably wearing down.

He tends to be more liberal with his bench usage in the first half of games and tighten things up in the second half. However, I think Gard rode the starting five way too long last night, and they paid the price.

***

Wisconsin basketball now sits 0.5 games behind Purdue in the Big Ten standings and will welcome them to the Kohl Center on Sunday.

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