The Wisconsin Badgers lost handily Wednesday night in a 55–73 thrashing by the Maryland Terrapins in College Park. A combination of poor shooting due to questionable shot selection and a breakdown on defense propelled Greg Gard’s team to break down in the second half.
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Since the start of the new year, a Wisconsin team that enjoyed several weeks in the Associated Press Top 25 has begun to live up to pre-season expectations, losing four of their last five games. This Wednesday’s game marked a poetic exclamation point to the Badger struggles, losing to a Maryland team whose once perfect season the Badgers spoiled in Madison Dec. 6.
December marked highs, not yet seen again, from both Wisconsin and Maryland as both squads have gone on to struggle in January. Wednesday’s loss laid out the struggles this year’s team has faced, with this game echoing trends that have stretched back into the new year.
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The Wisconsin guards played worse against the Terrapins than what those in Madison have come to expect. Chucky Hepburn played 25 total minutes but only accounted for three points. Games like this are not uncommon for Hepburn where his poor shot selection can often cause long shooting droughts. The only difference has been players like Max Klesmit and Brad Davison who have been there to pick up the slack at the top of the key. Sadly for the Badgers, Klesmit sat out Wednesday with a lower-body injury, and Davison is long gone.
Another weakness that has plagued the Badgers is their poor rebounding — a trend that started in their exhibition game in which the Badgers only won the rebound battle by single digits over an undersized Eau Claire team. While senior Tyler Wahl was injured for a three-game stretch early this month, accounting for some of the rebounding disparity in the past few outings, Wisconsin’s offensive rebounding was the final straw.
Hepburn’s poor shooting performance and a lack of offensive rebounding are far from the only reasons for the Badger’s loss, as even with these setbacks Wisconsin took a narrow deficit into halftime. This sliver of hope for Madison was wholly due to a career high effort from Connor Essegian and continued offensive aggression from Steven Crowl.
Even with these efforts, ultimately the squad’s on-ball defense crumbled in the second half allowing for Maryland and specifically Jahmir Young to have their way in driving to the basket. This collapse as well as Maryland’s ability to break the Badgers out of their usual snail pace, using a full court press, led Terrapins to a nearly 20-point victory.
