Another Quad 1 game. Another blowout loss. The Wisconsin Badgers collapsed in the second half, losing 89-73 to the Purdue Boilermakers in a game that didn’t feel as close as the final score.
The Badgers jumped out to a 9-2 score but found themselves down 45-38 at halftime. The second half was an outright nightmare for Wisconsin, as the Badgers found themselves down by as many as 25 points in the second half.
For a team that utilizes the three-point line, the Badgers continue to struggle in making shots
from distance. Wisconsin, which finished 4-of-22 against UW-Milwaukee back on December 30th, shot a horrendous 4-of-25 from behind the three-point line. The three-point struggles are just one of many reasons why this Badgers team is not an NCAA tournament team right now.
Wisconsin had played in four games against Quad 1 opponents. Each Quad 1 opponent decimated the Badgers’ defense. How bad have those games been? Wisconsin has been outscored 353-269. That’s an average score of 88.25 to 67.25. Until this team shows more effort on defense, the Badgers are not being anyone of note.
Here are three things that stood out from Wisconsin’s loss to Purdue on Saturday.
Purdue starters
Saturday’s win for the Boilermakers was the result of a balanced attack by their starting five. All of Purdue’s starters finished in double figures in scoring, led by Fletcher Loyer with 20 points.
C.J. Cox and Braden Smith both finished with 14 points, with Smith dishing out an astounding 12 assists. In the frontcourt, Oscar Cluff had 12 points and led the Boilermakers with 11 rebounds.
Finally, Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 11 points.
Braden Smith
It was a record-setting day for the veteran Purdue point guard, as he surpassed Cassius Winston for the most assists in Big Ten history.
One of the keys for Wisconsin to pull the upset was to disrupt Smith’s playmaking. That, obviously, did not happen, as Smith notched his eighth game with 10+ assists.
He is well on his way to earning more All-Big Ten and All-American honors.
Nick Boyd
Boyd led all Badger players with 24 points, shot 7-of-13 from the floor, and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free-throw line. While all other Wisconsin players failed to contribute much outside of Nolan Winter, Boyd did his best to keep Wisconsin in the game by attacking the rim and making jump shots from inside the arc.
On one possession, Boyd got after Austin Rapp for not gathering rebounds. When asked about it during the postgame press conference, Boyd gave a short but pointed answer: “I want to win so bad.”
Right now, this Badgers team has no direction. Perhaps Boyd is the one to steer the ship.
