The Wisconsin Badgers fell to 16-7 after a tight overtime loss to the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday in a game that felt very similar to their last few. Wisconsin struggled early with a slow start, started to regain momentum, and then found its footing in the second half for a comeback. Only this time, the game went into overtime, and the Badgers lost by one.
Wisconsin’s slow starts this season have come for a multitude of reasons, but the Badgers’ shaky play in the first half extended for much of the period. Despite having the size advantage, Wisconsin couldn’t muster many shots in the paint, with 19 of their first 30 shots coming from behind the arc (and only five being makes). Defensively, Wisconsin struggled with dribble penetration as the guards were getting beaten, leading to better looks for the Hoosiers.
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Again, the size disparity felt like an issue, but for the Badgers because they weren’t matching the physicality of the Hoosiers.
“We were more physical for stretches in the second half, specifically the back half of that second half,” head coach Greg Gard said after the game. “I thought we had figured out some things, where we could help from, where we couldn’t. We just played more physical. I think that was the biggest thing.
“And we’re able to get some things going offensively, which obviously helped us defensively early. I thought we missed a lot of really good looks early in the first half, that we had good looks from 3. But I didn’t think we were played with the physicalness that we needed to play with in that middle part of the first half. But, I mean, we were to be able to battle back and take a lead and then have that happen in overtime is, that’s frustrating.”
The Badgers did make the requisite adjustments. While Nolan Winter was playing well, freshman Aleksas Bieliauskas seemed to be struggling with the physicality that Indiana’s frontcourt gave. He played just three minutes in the second half and overtime after seeing 11 in the opening half. That was only one of a couple of changes.
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Wisconsin’s propensity to switch everything will lead to some tougher matchups down low, especially when a team like Indiana has a ton of good shooters on the perimeter.
“Sometimes we got caught where we switched to stop the ball, and we ended up with the small on them, and they were putting them in positions,” Gard said. “And they obviously have the floor littered with shooters, right? So you’re cognizant of not giving too much help and being caught in too long of closeouts. And when we did stay big on big, I didn’t think we got to our digs, and we were able to squeeze as much as we should have.
“But again, that’s the double-edged sword part of how far you want to come off [Lamar] Wilkerson, how far do you want to come off [Tucker] DeVries, how far do you want to come off [Nick] Dorn? And I thought we, for the most part, we did a really good job on those guys in negating that. But we needed to be better in the paint, be better one-on-one, and then we needed to be able to squeeze better and send some help.”
Over the past few games, it felt like the Badgers were getting better in the physicality department, but that’s been a question mark for this team for a good chunk of the year. Defensively, it’s got to be a strong effort all-around, with the guards and the bigs both stepping up. Next up will be a really tough challenge for that with the Illinois Fighting Illini on the docket.
We’ll see how Wisconsin responds physically against a tough opponent on the road.
