How No. 12 Wisconsin can move on from its most frustrating loss of the year
MADISON, Wisc. – As Wisconsin tries to bounce back from its most frustrating loss of the season one of its greatest strengths will be tested.
The Badgers aren’t just mature, they’re even keeled. Coach Greg Gard calls them a player-coached team and the group has shown again and again the ability to learn from its mistakes and come back better.
Graduate guard John Tonje picked himself up after a scoreless performance at USC last month and began a tear that put him in conversation for Big Ten player of the year. After Gard criticized Steven Crowl for not being a presence on the boards at Illinois, he responded with all-around play that was critical to a seven-game winning streak that lasted from mid-December to mid-January. The team's breakdowns on defense at UCLA sparked a surge on that end of the floor that has caused its efficiency to improve over the last month.
What UW hasn’t had to do this season is bounce back from a game it clearly should have won. That is the next challenge for the Badgers, who blew a 15-point lead with about 8 minutes to play and lost to Oregon in overtime at home.
It's a challenge Crowl believers the Badgers are built for.
“(We have) a lot of older guys, guys that have been here for a long time," he said. "John has seen a lot at a lot of different schools so having guys who have a lot of experience really helps in these situations. We’re going to learn from it (Sunday), watch the film and get back to practice and play Tuesday.”
There were plenty of teaching points from Oregon loss
If the Badgers learn from the loss then we’ll see a team that is much more aggressive, stronger with the ball and displays more balance when they play Washington on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center (8 p.m. tipoff).
Wisconsin, which averages 10 turnovers per game, finished with a season-high 17 in the 77-73 loss to the Ducks and its six free throw attempts equaled a season low. Also, Oregon’s 24 points off turnovers tied the most for a Badgers opponent this season.
Those were some of the obvious issues that plagued Wisconsin.
Here are three others that might be eating at the Badgers as they make corrections from the loss.
Missed connections: There were three or four occasions, depending on how you count them, when the Badgers failed to either complete a pass that would have led to a layup or dunk or failed to finish a prime opportunity in the paint. On one of the plays Tonje missed a dunk in the second half.
Weak finish to first half: Wisconsin led by 17 points with 2 ½ minutes to go in the first half but only held a 12-point edge at the break. Oregon's 5-0 spurt to end the half was a brief run that changed the outlook of the game.
Offensive balance: Tonje’s emergence has skewed the numbers a bit, but UW is still a team that relies on its balance. With 20 attempts, Tonje had 11 more attempts than any other Badger, the largest difference between the No. 1 and No. 2 option for the team in any game this season.
Gard pointed to a couple of things when assessing Tonje's play against Oregon, noting that Tonje needed to be more efficient and get to the free throw line more. However, the coach also pointed out that other players needed to step up and do their part in the offense.
“I thought we settled for too many things at times,” Gard said. “We got him taking tougher shots and we’ve got 4s and 5s turning down shots and that puts the pressure back on John to have to take a tougher shot when the rest of us aren’t as aggressive as we need to be.”
Wisconsin will try to bounce back against last-place Washington
Washington (13-14, 4-12) enters play last in the Big Ten in the standings and not surprisingly near the bottom of the conference in a handful of statistics.
In league games they’re 17th out of 18 teams in scoring (69.8 ppg) and scoring defense (79 ppg). The Huskies also rank 17th in field-goal percentage defense (.402) and three-point defense (.385) and are last in turnover ratio (.94).
Senior Great Osobor, however, is one of the Big Ten’s top players. The 6-foot-8 forward leads the Huskies in scoring (15.0 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg), assists (3.4 apg) and steals (1.9 spg).
The Huskies' Big Ten wins came over Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern and Penn State. They come to town fresh off a loss at Iowa on Saturday.
Sending Washington home 0 for 2 on its Midwest swing would be the best way for the Badgers to wash away the bad taste from Saturday.
“You can’t sit here and feel sorry for yourself,” Gard said. “It doesn’t sit well with everybody because we beat ourselves for the most part. I don’t think we’d done that all year so to be able to rebound and bounce back (is good). Fortunately this isn’t like football where you have to sit seven days waiting for your next game.”