In the immediate aftermath of Wisconsin’s heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame, the ire of dejected fans was directly mainly toward the refs, who they felt had cost the Badgers a third straight trip to the Elite Eight.
But over the passage of time and when cooler heads prevail, many of these fans will likely ultimately reach the conclusion that the Badgers’ demise was caused by self-inflicted wounds.
Wisconsin turned the ball over 17 times against the Fighting Irish Friday night, its most since Greg Gard’s head coaching debut against Green Bay in December, when the Badgers finished the night with 26 turnovers. Though Wisconsin hasn’t been quite as careful with the ball this season as it has in years past, this was still a team that came into the game averaging just 10.9 turnovers.
However, the Badgers were very sloppy on offense against Notre Dame. They posted an abysmal turnover percentage of 22.2, well above their mediocre season average of 14.7 percent.
Worst of all, a healthy majority of Wisconsin’s turnovers against Notre Dame were mostly unforced.
If a team turns the ball over while trying to get aggressive on offense, it is fairly easy to forgive. But that wasn’t the case for the Badgers for most of the night; most of their turnovers were giveaways in the truest sense of the word. Bad passes, miscommunication and travels plagued Wisconsin throughout the night, and ultimately cost it a chance at a third straight trip to the Elite Eight.
In the first half, UW’s defense was stifling, holding the Irish to a dismal 24.1 percent shooting from the floor. But the Badgers failed to take advantage on the other end, shooting 34.6 percent and turning the ball over seven times. Notre Dame endured a scoreless drought that lasted 5:40 at one point in the first half, providing Wisconsin with a golden opportunity to build a sizable lead. In their nine offensive possessions during that stretch, the Badgers went 3-of-8 from the field, turned it over once and were unable to grab any offensive rebounds to create second-chance opportunities.
While that isn’t dreadful and a 7-0 run pushed the UW lead to 22-13, Wisconsin failed to capitalize on this chance to really seize control of the game against a lackluster defense and put Notre Dame on the ropes early. Whereas the Badgers were grateful to head into the locker room down by just six to Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Irish were thankful to be trailing by only four at halftime after a poor showing in the first half.
Wisconsin’s issues with ball security would get no better in the second half, as it gave the ball away 10 times over the last 20 minutes. Of course, several of these would occur at the most inopportune times for the Badgers.
The play that will haunt UW players and fans alike throughout the offseason came when the Badgers were up in the waning seconds of the game.
After Demetrius Jackson made a layup to cut the deficit to one for Notre Dame, Wisconsin inbounded the ball to Nigel Hayes, who was immediately met with pressure from the Irish. Hayes tried to break the press by dribbling through two defenders, but the ball was stripped loose, allowing Jackson to collect the ball and lay in the go-ahead bucket with 14.7 seconds remaining.
After Bronson Koenig missed a layup, V.J. Beachem sunk a pair of free throws to put the Irish up three. On the ensuing possession, Jackson would get another steal, this time after the ball was jarred loose from Koenig as he brought the ball past the half-court line. That steal sealed the deal for Notre Dame, completing the collapse for the Badgers. In total, Wisconsin turned it over three times in its last four possessions.
While fans were unhappy that fouls weren’t called on either of the aforementioned steals, any call made would have been borderline, and Wisconsin still had at least one timeout to work with in both instances. In a game where the Badgers finished with more turnovers than they had in any contest since the calendar flipped to 2016, it was a bit poetic that the outcome was essentially decided on a pair of Wisconsin giveaways.
