INDIANAPOLIS – Once the final horn sounded on Thursday night, Wisconsin men’s basketball players hung their heads, matching the sentiments so visible on their faces for much of the game.
In what was possibly the team’s most frustrating performance all season, the Badgers (20-12 overall, 12-6 Big Ten) fell 70-58 in their opening match of the Big Ten Tournament to Nebraska (16-17 overall, 6-12 Big Ten) in front of a crowd of 15,751 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
During the loss, Wisconsin never seemed to gain a consistent momentum on offense.
“[Nebraska] was making us take tough looks,” junior Zak Showalter said. “We were trying to find something to get going, and unfortunately we didn’t do that tonight.”
Wisconsin shot just 30.2 percent and every made basket seemed like an uphill battle. Shots were not falling and Nebraska’s players, smelling blood in the water, pressed harder on defense as the game went on, forcing the Badgers to take progressively more difficult shots.
Double-teams were a focal point to Nebraska’s defensive scheme, which took the ball out of Wisconsin’s best shooters’ possession more often than not and forced their hand.
Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig each fell victim to the Cornhuskers’ tight defense. Hayes finished the game 2-15 from the field while Koenig did not fare much better, going 3-12.
“[The Badgers’ performance] was pretty bad,” Hayes said. “[Nebraska] played harder, I’ll give them credit where it’s due, but a lot of us, myself included, didn’t make a shot outside of four feet. A couple other guys struggled too.”
Poor shooting was not the only thing that Nebraska’s defense forced out of the Badgers.
Turnovers stalled Wisconsin’s possessions time and time again, eliciting heated reactions from Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard on the sidelines.
“I’m obviously not pleased with some of the things on our end, the shot selection at times and turnovers,” Gard said. “If we play like this, it will be one more [game to end Wisconsin’s season]. Give credit to Tim’s team, because in about every statistical category, they were better than we were.”
Redshirt freshman Ethan Happ, despite putting up 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals, was preyed on by the Cornhuskers’ defense.
Happ, when fed in the post, found himself into double and sometimes triple-teams that forced him to put the ball on the floor, which led to a team-high of five turnovers.
Not all of Wisconsin’s play was subpar, however.
A smooth assist from Khalil Iverson, a driving, no-look dish between two jumping defenders to a waiting Happ who promptly dunked, was a welcome reminder of how efficient the team can play.
And not all of the loss can be attributed to Wisconsin’s poor showing.
Nebraska’s Shavon Shields played an all-around superb game and dropped 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished two assists while recording a steal. During the two team’s previous meeting, a 72-61 Wisconsin victory, Shields did not play, demonstrating what could’ve been with his performance Thursday.
Men’s basketball: Brown’s efforts see Badgers win sixth straight
“I knew [Shields] would make a difference, not only in terms of talent but how hard he plays,” Gard said. “And I knew, and we talked about it, that it would be a different [Nebraska] team than we saw in Madison.”
