Every week, Herald Sports will look back at the Wisconsin men’s basketball team and grade the Badgers in various aspects of the games.

Here is how the Badgers fared in their game on the road at Purdue last Thursday:

Offense — 2 of 5

If you are giving this grade to Keaton Nankivil, he gets an A. For the rest of the team, however, they should be thankful the nightmare is over.

Take away Nankivil’s shots and the team finishes the game shooting 30 percent from the field and 13 percent from three-point range. Yikes. Even more hurtful, the Badgers only connected on 8-of-14 free throw attempts — especially critical in a game that came down to the last possession.

While Nankivil’s three-point bombing kept UW in the game, lack of execution against Purdue’s pressure defense (a mediocre 13 assists to nine turnovers) finally caught up to Wisconsin.

Defense — 3 of 5

For every big bucket Nankivil provided the Badgers, Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore had an answer. Finishing the game with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting, Moore carved up the Badgers with a variety of jumpers, driving lay-ins and floaters the Badgers had no solution for. Running the pick-and-roll seemingly every time down the court in the second half, Moore took advantage of the Badgers’ lack of size, dominating the paint on dribble drives.

UW was able to keep Purdue star Robbie Hummel at bay, however, holding Purdue’s dangerous ‘4’ to 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting and only allowing one three-point attempt. For the game, Purdue shot 49 percent from the field but only made two three-pointers and turned the ball over 13 times.

Bench — 1 of 5

Umm, what bench?

Badger starters accounted for 50 of the 57 points and only two bench players — Ryan Evans and Rob Wilson — managed double digits of playing time. At the very least, Wilson was on the floor for crunch time while the ineffective Tim Jarmusz (no points, one rebound in 19 minutes) sat on the bench.

At this point in the season, head coach Bo Ryan seems resigned to using a seven-man rotation, with occasional playing time going to Mike Bruesewitz, and even less frequently, Jared Berggren.

Star of the Game — Keaton Nankivil

The Badgers lone big man finally broke out of his shell, providing a superb complement to Trevon Hughes and Jordan Taylor on the pick-and-pop. Nankivil fired away with confidence, draining 7-of-8 from beyond the arc and giving Wisconsin a boost of confidence with each big bucket.

Nankivil also managed to lead UW in rebounds with six while collecting three steals and a big block late in the game on Purdue guard Chris Kramer. With Jon Leuer watching from the bench, Nankivil stepped up as the lone big man scoring threat for the Badgers guard heavy offense.

Stat of the game — Rebounding

Added to the Badgers shooting woes was an inability to crash the offensive glass for second-chance points. Often playing with four guards on the floor, UW finished the game with 25 rebounds to Purdue’s 37. The Boilermakers gathered 11 offensive rebounds to the Badgers’ seven, and even more importantly, scored 12 second-chance points to UW’s measly three.

Going up against two excellent rebounders in JaJuan Johnson and Hummel, Nankivil was only able to neutralize Johnson, leaving Hummel to collect 13 rebounds in the contest. Matched up against the smaller Jarmusz and Evans, Hummel muscled his way inside and cleaned up the glass at will. With Leuer sitting, the Badgers lack of size finally caught up to them, a problem that may not have a solution with the physical Michigan State coming to town.