The Wisconsin Badgers had a setback on Wednesday, losing 85-71 on the road against the Oregon Ducks in a crusher for their Big Ten Tournament seeding hopes.
Being a 6.5-point road favorite against the team with the second-worst conference record, Wisconsin got off to a great start, but lulls offensively and struggles in the second half defensively caused them to lose their second straight game on the road.
After the game, head coach Greg Gard spoke with the media in attendance and lamented the defensive
effort.
“I thought we didn’t keep the game simple. We talked about that at halftime,” Gard said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We were trying to create something out of nothing at times in the paint, driving into three guys instead of making good decisions and kicking it back out to open teammates. We thought for some reason that we were going to try to finish through three guys, and that’s not a good recipe.
“But, more importantly, on the defensive end, specifically in the second half, we were as discombobulated as I’ve seen us in a while. Credit Oregon. They hit some tough shots, hit some shot-clock shots, but I thought we were not as connected as we had been in a while. I got to look through the tape and figure out why.”
Wisconsin’s second-half defense was a big problem on Wednesday. They allowed Oregon to score 55 points (yes, some when the game was out of hand) on 70.8 percent shooting and 66.7 percent from three. The Ducks absolutely dominated inside the arc, going 11 of 15 on twos, while hitting 15 of their 20 shots from the free throw line.
Nate Bittle couldn’t be stopped, getting 13 points in the second half, while Takai Simpkins and Kwame Evans Jr. combined for 22 points on just nine shots in the period.
Wisconsin’s defense hasn’t been up to Greg Gard’s standards for much of the year. They currently stand No. 63 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency, which doesn’t bode well when considering teams that are generally successful in the NCAA Tournament.
That ranking is the team’s worst since 2018, the worst year in the Greg Gard era.
When it comes to the issues, Wisconsin has struggled in the paint in many games for a multitude of reasons. They’ve been beaten off the dribble too consistently at times, which leads to rotation issues and too much paint penetration. And they’ve also been beaten with physicality on the interior, which can definitely be a problem in the Big Ten.
With the regular season coming to an end soon, the Badgers will need to improve on that end quickly.
