The old adage goes something like, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” Unfortunately, the Badgers bought into that sentiment a bit too much Sunday afternoon, missing their final 18 attempts from 3-point range in a 69-56 loss at the hands of Purdue.
“For it to come to an end playing at the Kohl Center like this, it’s an emotional moment, especially after a loss,” redshirt senior forward Jared Berggren said. “This is a pretty big loss for us, so it hurts.”
The Badgers (11-5 Big Ten, 20-9 overall) have no one to blame but themselves for their first senior day loss in 12 years under head coach Bo Ryan. After starting out 6-for-10 from 3-point range and building a 36-24 lead, UW only took a five-point lead into halftime, failing to score over the final 4:24 of the first half. That lull allowed the Boilermakers (7-9, 14-15) to score seven straight points heading into the break and erase any thought this would be an easy Wisconsin victory.
“We had them down,” senior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “We just didn’t step on their throats when we needed to.”
Early on, it looked as if the necessary adjustments had indeed been made, with Berggren being fed underneath for six straight points to give UW a 42-33 lead with just over 17 minutes left. But after the quick start, Wisconsin once again began to settle for and miss jump shots. In the end, UW finished just 6-of-28 from beyond the arc and seemed unwilling to make an effort to get the ball into the post in order to give Berggren a chance to wear down Purdue’s inexperienced front line.
“We really talked about [freshman forward Sam] Dekker and [junior guard Ben] Brust and trying to get them out of rhythm,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “We know Jared Berggren is able to make shots but he has struggled this whole year, and we were willing to live with [the possibility he would shoot well].”
Entering Sunday, the Kohl Center had been the lone Big Ten arena in which Boilermaker seniors D.J. Byrd and Dru Anthrop had yet to win. Byrd made sure he checked Madison off the list, blitzing the Badgers for 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. Between Byrd’s shooting from the outside and Purdue’s seeming invincibility in the two-man game, Purdue exploited the Wisconsin defense unlike any other team during the Big Ten season.
“They were getting [those shots] in the first half, too, and they weren’t exactly hitting them,” Ryan said. “When they start getting the drives going and you start squeezing a little and the 3-point shot comes open. They took advantage of that like we have against teams.”
Coming off three straight wins by a combined total of 81 points, Sunday was a massive let down for a Badger team that seemed to be hitting its stride just at the right moment. Sophomore guard Traevon Jackson took another big step back in his development, especially in the second half. Although he made three of his four field goal attempts and finished with six points and three assists, Jackson committed four costly second-half turnovers, the first two igniting a 19-3 Purdue run that transformed a nine-point UW lead into a seven-point deficit.
“When you are missing shots, the basket gets smaller, you get a little tighter and we maybe forced a few passes that we shouldn’t have trying to make a great play instead of a good play,” Ryan said. “For us to get in that kind of hole, that’s pretty tough to come back from.”
Generally Wisconsin can live with making six 3-point shots. The problem Sunday was the Badgers’ 28 attempts. During Big Ten play, UW has averaged 26.8 3-point attempts per game in its five losses and just 20.5 attempts in 11 wins. While the Badgers have squeaked out wins despite hot and cold shooting, they have gotten in trouble with an inability to show patience when the shots aren’t falling and to instead work the ball into the interior.
“We’ve had games like this before that we have found ways to come out on the winning side when shots aren’t dropping for us,” Berggren said. “You would like to be able to rely on your defense on nights like that when shots aren’t dropping, but tonight we weren’t able to do that.”
Wisconsin has never finished outside of the top-four in 11 years under Bo Ryan and, while that streak looked safe heading into Sunday, this latest Badger defeat has brought the possibility of a fifth-place finish very much back into the picture. UW is currently in a four-way tie for second place that will ultimately settle the No. 2 through No. 5 seeds in the Big Ten Tournament, with just three of the four teams being given all-important byes in the opening round (Wisconsin sits tied with Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State—UW’s next opponent—in the conference).
Last season it was a road loss at Iowa that took Wisconsin out of contention for the Big Ten title. Back then, UW responded with a road upset of Ohio State to begin a run of three straight wins to finish out the regular season. After Sunday’s loss, the Badgers can only hope for a repeat performance.
