Remember when I said I expected the Wisconsin Badgers to give a better effort against Nebraska than against BYU? You can throw that out the window.
In the worst loss of Greg Gard’s tenure, the Badgers fell to the Nebraska Cornhuskers 90-60 in a game where Wisconsin was outfought from the first half onward. It was a combination of poor three-point shooting (7-of-32 from behind the arc) and terrible defensive effort from the entire team. Even Big Ten Network studio analyst Rapheal Davis called out the Badgers’
effort.
With the Badgers down 47-31 at the break, there was hope Wisconsin could chip away at the Husker lead. Apparently, Greg Gard’s halftime message to fix the defensive rotations wasn’t received by the players. Nebraska continued to attack the Badgers’ lackadaisical defense, ballooning their lead to 81-51 with 7:30 left in the game.
An abysmal all-around effort on Wednesday night in Lincoln. Here are three things that stood out in Wisconsin’s blowout loss:
Nebraska is legit
Let’s not take anything away from the Huskers tonight. While it’s only been ten games, this Nebraska team looks like one of the top teams in the Big Ten Conference and appears to be Fred Hoiberg’s best squad since he took over in 2019. The most impressive trait was Nebraska’s defense, which consistently denied Badger drives and forced Wisconsin into jump shots. It’s still early, but the Huskers look the part of an NCAA Tournament team.
Rienk Mast
Multiple Nebraska players deserve credit, but I want to highlight the Huskers’ star forward, Rienk Mast. He was the player the Badgers had to key on to shut down the Nebraska attack. Mast finished with his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Before missing last season with knee surgery, Mast received Third-Team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches in 2024. If he keeps this up, look for his name to reappear on the All-Big Ten honors lists.
Wisconsin is an NIT team
While Nebraska looks like an NCAA Tournament team, Wisconsin is an NIT team as of this writing. Wednesday’s loss was the second Quad 1 loss by more than 25 points this season. You can make the argument that Wisconsin’s best win of the season was in San Diego against Providence, a team ranked 94th in the NET.
Until Wisconsin plays well against Quad 1 opponents, I don’t see how this team makes the tournament, given how they have performed against tougher competition.
