The Big Ten Conference Tournament begins on Wednesday in Indianapolis, but for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team (28-8, 13-7), their path has now taken an unexpected turn following Saturday’s stunning 86-75 loss to Penn State.
The loss cost Wisconsin the double bye in the tournament and dropped the Badgers to the No. 5 seed with UCLA claiming the No. 4 seed. Wisconsin’s tournament play will now start a day earlier than the team anticipated as they will face the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota on Thursday.
The Badgers went 2-0 against Minnesota this year and won by seven on the road earlier in the year against Northwestern.
Regardless, this is March. No game is a sure thing, and Wisconsin will be playing on a neutral court for the first time since Nov. 24.
How will Wisconsin fare in the Big Ten Tournament?
Wisconsin is 5-7 in the Big Ten Tournament under head coach Greg Gard.
Last year, Wisconsin was also a No. 5 seed and had a great run in the tournament before ultimately losing 87-93 to Illinois in the championship game.
If the Badgers win on Thursday, they will face UCLA on Friday.
When these two teams played on Jan. 21, the Bruins won 85-83, and Wisconsin had their third-lowest defensive efficiency of the year. With a win over UCLA, the Badgers could be matched up against No. 8 Oregon or the No. 1 seed Michigan State — two teams Wisconsin lost to earlier in the season.
The regular season loss to Oregon on Feb. 22 actually marked what has now become an end-of-season slump for Wisconsin as they went 2-3 over their final five games.
The Badgers’ struggles are largely due to poor 3-point shooting as the team is 25.8% from beyond the arc during their five-game sputter, with star guard John Tonje having his worst scoring stretch of the season (23.5% from three).
Following the loss to Penn State, Gard said, “It's a domino effect. Obviously, those five that walk out to start the game, they're out there for a reason. We need to have those guys out there.”
The Badgers have been without senior guard Max Klesmit for the last three games, and sophomore Nolan Winter got injured early in the second half against Penn State.
Hopefully, this is merely a cold shooting streak, and with both injured starters set to return for the Big Ten Tournament, the Badgers will restore their offensive continuity and success.
The bigger issue is that during this stretch and throughout the season, Wisconsin has had the lead at halftime, but have failed to close out the game.
In six of Wisconsin’s eight losses, the team has led at the break, and during their recent slump, the Badgers carried leads into the second half in all three losses.
“Specifically in the back part of the first half and the entire second half, I thought they were the much more aggressive team, the much more physical team,” Gard said following Penn State. “I’m disappointed in our response to it. How we didn’t have bite to us.”
In a majority of their second-half shortcomings, the Badgers have lacked intensity, committed more turnovers and have had an uncomfortable lack of flow to the offense.
In March a five-minute lapse can end a season, and with Wisconsin playing its worst basketball right before the biggest stage, there is a major cause for concern.
The returns of Klesmit and Winter will hopefully help right the ship and allow the offense to find its old form.
Nevertheless, from this point forward there are no second chances in tournament play, and the Badgers need to fix their struggles fast before a promising season spirals down the drain.
