Heading into Saturday afternoon’s matchup with Penn State, Wisconsin was rolling.
The Badgers were on a three-game winning streak and alone in third place in the Big Ten, rapidly approaching the top of the conference. Point guard Jordan Taylor was garnering consideration as a top-five player in the nation and freshman Josh Gasser even recorded the first triple-double in UW history against Northwestern.
So, after falling to the Nittany Lions, 56-52, in Happy Valley, the Badgers now find themselves in interesting territory.
“Anyone that’s been around the game long enough knows there’s stretches like that,” Jon Leuer said of the Badgers riding the ebb and flow of the Big Ten season. “It’s hard to explain. Just looking around games yesterday, how do you explain Northwestern losing by one, almost beating Ohio State? There’s just stretches like that in the game.”
Indeed, just like most anything, things rise and fall in basketball. Yet, as Leuer was quick to explain, it’s not like the Badgers didn’t have their chances.
“If you do enough consistent things, you always give yourself a chance,” he said. “We even had a chance, yesterday, down the stretch. It came down to making shots, and we just didn’t make enough of them.”
Wisconsin had much more than simply a chance down the stretch Saturday. In fact, the Badgers were up 29-20 at halftime. UW made 13-of-24 shots in the first half (54.2 percent) while PSU sunk only 7-of-21 (33.3 percent). Leuer had 10 points on 5-7 shooting, and Taylor led all scorers with 12 on 5-9 shooting.
It looked all right for the Badgers entering halftime, but there definitely were warning signs. Wisconsin – the nation’s top free throw-shooting team at 81.8 percent – failed to get to the charity stripe once. Outside of Leuer and Taylor, only three other Badgers had scored – and they combined for seven points. In addition, PSU’s Talor Battle, who ended up leading all scorers with 22 points, scored only once.
“I think we lost a little flow, a little continuity when they started to get their momentum,” UW forward Keaton Nankivil said. “You could feel the swing; we didn’t get a couple of stops, and then take some shots that don’t go in or take a tougher shot, it’s that momentum shift that takes you out of your flow. It adds up over the course of the game.”
Penn State had already notched two consecutive upsets of ranked Big Ten teams at home in the Bryce Jordan Center, and out of halftime, they were eager for another. The Nittany Lions trailed by as many as 13 in the first half, but they outscored the Badgers in the second half by that same number of points.
Tied at 35 with 10:51 remaining, Battle connected on a three-pointer off an inbounds pass to put Penn State ahead for the first time. The Nittany Lions’ senior leading scorer scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, and along with amped-up defensive pressure from PSU, the Badgers had no answer. Battle finished 7-16 from the field, including 3-9 from behind the arc and 5-8 from the free throw line.
Riding the momentum keyed by their star, the Nittany Lions shot 63.2 percent in the second half (12-19) and 40 percent from three-point range (4-10). Most stunningly, Penn State got to the line 14 times in the second half and made eight, while Wisconsin got there just three times and sunk two. The Badgers average 15.65 free throw attempts per game, so Saturday’s performance was certainly alarming – especially on a day where 11 of the nation’s top 25 teams lost.
“I think it’s a sign of the times,” UW assistant coach Gary Close said. “There’s a lot of good teams out there, and if you’re not right on your game – especially on the road – you’ll get beat.”
Now 2-4 on the road, Wisconsin must find a solution quickly, as away games against Iowa, Purdue, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State still loom. Furthermore, the Badgers now find themselves entering the toughest part of their conference schedule. Tuesday night, JaJuan Johnson and No. 12 Purdue come to Madison. Five days later, Michigan State does the same. The Badgers certainly haven’t forgotten their Jan. 11 encounter with the Spartans, who overcame a 12-point deficit to stun the Badgers in overtime, 64-61.
Wisconsin will then travel to Iowa City Feb. 9, and three days after that, it gets No. 1 Ohio State at home. That contest obviously will carry significant conference implications, and the Badgers know they have to remedy their game much sooner than that – particularly on offense.
“Every team is going to go through some lulls and up and downs offensively,” Leuer said. “It’s a mater of doing things in other areas to get you through those stretches. There were just some little things that we could’ve done better [against Penn State] that would’ve probably helped us overcome that. You can’t just look at making shots – although, that would have made a big difference for us – it comes down to more than that.”
Mike is a junior majoring in journalism and communication arts. Where do you think the Badgers stand right now? Let him know at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @mikefiammetta.
