The Wisconsin Badgers put away the Ohio State Buckeyes 92-82 over the weekend to continue a strong Big Ten campaign, improving their record to 16-6 and 8-3 in Big Ten play.
It was a game where Wisconsin had another slow start, trailing 15-4 after the opening minutes before bouncing back offensively and scoring 49 points in the first half. The Badgers have had these slow starts or lulls in games quite often this season. But they’ve been able to snap out of them and go on scoring flurries to come back in games and get
victories.
Saturday’s game marked the fourth time in seven games that Wisconsin made a double-digit comeback and won the game. Against Michigan, the Badgers trailed by as many as 14 points before making a fervent comeback late in the first half and exploding offensively in the second half.
Elsewhere, against Minnesota, Wisconsin trailed by as many as 11 in the second half in the first of two games between the teams. It looked like a comeback wasn’t coming, but the Badgers turned things around well in the second half and held on for a victory as Minnesota tried to make a comeback themselves.
In the second Minnesota game, Wisconsin trailed by a whopping 20 points near the end of the first half and was down 18 in the second half before making a strong comeback effort on both sides of the court to ultimately win the game. That was tied for their biggest second-half comeback in program history, and the Badgers were able to do it in front of their home crowd.
That’s quite a few comeback efforts from this team, which shows both the inconsistencies they’ve had, but also the resilience and mentality of a team with good leadership to remain composed and find their way back in games.
Earlier in the season, that wasn’t necessarily there. Wisconsin fought hard in games against TCU and Villanova, but wasn’t able to make enough of a comeback in those games. Even against Purdue, the Badgers were firmly in that game at halftime, trailing by only seven, but completely collapsed in the second half, which eliminated any chance of a comeback in the loss.
Now, the Badgers are starting to look like a different team, and they’re heading into one of the toughest stretches of their schedule over the next few weeks. Wisconsin faces Indiana and No. 9 Illinois on the road before hosting No. 7 Michigan State at home. They then hit the road for a rematch against Ohio State before hosting Iowa at home near the end of the month. All of those games are against teams above .500 in the Big Ten, and they all could be Quad 1 opportunities for the Badgers.
So there are quite a few challenges ahead for a Wisconsin team that is getting stronger at the right time.
