In a shocking defeat, the No. 5 seed Wisconsin Badgers fell short in an 83-82 loss to the No. 12 High Point Panthers, ending their season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament yet again.
It was an ugly finish for the Badgers, who led by eight with seven minutes left and by four with 1:02 remaining. But Wisconsin, which had been the NCAA’s leader in second-half comebacks this season, could not finish the biggest game of their season. They fell short in the final moments as High Point got a fastbreak
layup with 11 seconds left off a Nick Boyd miss to take an 83-82 lead and eventually win.
With the loss, Wisconsin will see yet another season go by without a trip to the second weekend, ending what looked like a promising season under head coach Greg Gard.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s heartbreaking loss to High Point.
Pace
Entering the game, the talk around High Point was fully about the Panthers’ high-pace offense that averaged 90 points per game. But Wisconsin was a team that looked to thrive in transition as well, while being a team that rarely turned the ball over, making for what felt like a good matchup on paper.
Well, the pace completely startled the Badgers, who looked unprepared for High Point’s style. The Badgers gave up 16 fastbreak points, but were also out of place defensively in the half court as they looked to get back. It just didn’t seem like they had the energy to match High Point’s intensity, which was relentless throughout the game.
But it wasn’t only on the defensive side where Wisconsin was impacted. It felt like the Badgers were constantly trying to keep up with High Point’s pace offensively, which led to them being sped up offensively. While the Badgers shot 47.7 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three, they struggled with turnovers at times and really could not garner quality shots at points in the game.
But the big issue came defensively, where Wisconsin just didn’t seem prepared for High Point’s pace.
Rebounding
While High Point looked to play with pace, the Badgers were expected to have a clear size advantage, especially with Nolan Winter back in action.
High Point had only one player above 6’8, but they somehow found a way to outrebound Wisconsin 40-37 and kill them on the offensive glass. The Panthers had 13 offensive rebounds, with star Terry Anderson recording five by out-physicaling Wisconsin’s bigs.
The Badgers were just not fundamental on Thursday. They didn’t look to box out, which was a problem against Washington last week. The bigs didn’t have the right energy and struggled despite having a clear size advantage. And the number of offensive rebounds took away from parts of Wisconsin’s advantage with getting out in transition.
Rebounding was expected to be a potential issue for the Badgers in future matchups. But it killed them in an unexpected way on Thursday against High Point.
Three-point shooting
The Badgers looked to live and die by the three this season. And they shot 39.1 percent from deep on Thursday against High Point. Normally, when they shoot that well, especially in a high-possession game, they’d end up with the win.
But Wisconsin shot only 23 threes on Thursday on 65 shots, accounting for just 35.4 percent of their shots. That was far below their season rank of 52.6 percent, which was sixth in the country. While the Badgers had a size advantage, they didn’t really use it to their advantage.
Wisconsin shot just over 52 percent on twos, while only securing six offensive rebounds and going 16 of 29 on layups. It wasn’t the most efficient performance from them according to their standards.
On the other hand, their defense in general, but especially their three-point defense, really struggled. Wisconsin allowed High Point to get into a groove and hit 15 threes, with point guard Rob Martin accounting for four of them. It was just a game where the numbers played against their favor, and it cost them their season.
