MADISON, Wis. – Bitter and disappointed after falling short in the 2014 national semifinals, a group of upperclassmen pushed off the NBA Draft to come together for one final run. Their rallying cry – “Make Them Believe” – served its purpose with one of the most successful seasons in school history.

Nine years later, it might be time for the Badgers to dust off that motto.

With how easy it is for players to move freely between schools in today’s era of the transfer portal, Wisconsin returned all its starters and the bulk of a rotation ready to rebound from a disjointed, lackluster campaign that ended in the NIT.

“I talked to this group a lot about believing how good they can be,” head coach Greg Gard said. “Sometimes I intentionally need to feed that because they hear so much negative from the outside that I have got to counter the negative with a lot of positive. I think now they believe.”

That belief, rocked early after dropping a winnable home game to No.9 Tennessee and getting dominated at Providence, is in full swing. Following their 75-64 victory over No.3 Marquette Saturday, the Badgers (6-2) have won five straight with three victories coming over major conference schools.

It’s a reason why Wisconsin clocked in at No.26 in the first NCAA NET rankings of the season Monday and No.23 in this week’s Associated Press poll. When the Badgers face Michigan State (4-3) in Tuesday’s Big Ten opener at the Breslin Center, it’ll be the first game for UW as a ranked team since January 14.

“We definitely knew what was in front of us with these six games in a row,” senior Tyler Wahl said. “It just shows the team that we have. We have the belief. We just got the opportunity to go out there and put it on display.”

Wahl was one of several UW players who returned with something to prove. An ankle injury robbed him of his rhythm through the second half of the season. He delivered a workmanlike 10 points and seven rebounds over Marquette and is averaging 12.6 points and 6.2 rebounds over its win streak.

Chucky Hepburn shot 35.7 percent on two-point attempts last season and bungled many late-game situations. Thanks to the roster having more experience and depth around with the addition of transfer A.J. Storr (team-high 13.3 ppg), freshman reserve John Blackwell (9.0), and noticeable growth from the pieces around him, Hepburn has been content facilitating and has picked his spots for scoring.

Under the weather during Wisconsin’s tournament in Fort Myers, Hepburn had six assists and no turnovers against Virginia’s stingy defense. In the championship game two days later, Hepburn scored 10 points in the final 4:36 to lead UW over SMU.

Against Marquette, which entered Saturday ranked in the top 20 of adjusted defensive efficiency and averaging over nine steals a game, Hepburn finished with four assists to one turnover in 34 minutes.

“The team has got so much poise this year,” said junior Max Klesmit, calm in his own right after scoring all 21 of his points in the first half against the Golden Eagles. “Moments start to get a little haywire, something starts to go a little south, having a point guard like Chucky being able to reel us back in and settle us down. Next play, if we got to get a stop or let’s execute this play the best we can, run that. Having a point guard that can really control the game really helps.”

Saturday’s game was one that likely would have slipped through Wisconsin’s fingers a year ago. Klesmit’s hot hand cooled, the Badgers didn’t make a three-pointer in the second half and the defense that was on point in the first half suffered lapses defensively to allow Marquette to begin the second half on a 14-2 run.

Save that early ugly stretch, Wisconsin’s execution of team defense (Marquette shot 41.2 percent), rebounding (UW finished +15 on the glass with an 18-2 edge in second-chance points), and free-throw shooting (24-for-28)

Last season, the Badgers were outrebounded by 3.1 per game, attempted 14.3 free throws per game, and shot 69.1 percent from the line.

“It was just keeping our poise in those timeouts we had and figuring out what we needed to do to stop them,” Wahl said. “We figured it out, talked it out, and got it done.”

Gard believed Wisconsin was stronger mentally this season to handle rough patches and difficult stretches better than a year ago when prolonged scoring droughts and late-game collapses became all too commonplace. It’s part of the reason why UW scheduled as aggressively as it did in the nonconference.

Lumps against Tennessee and Providence, the latter when UW wasn’t physically or mentally engaged in the first half, have served notice of what can happen when players aren’t locked in offensively or defensively.

Since that low point in Rhode Island, the Badgers have fought their way back, and perhaps are starting to believe again.

“When adversity strikes, you got to respond to it better,” Gard said. "Maybe you won't always get the same result, but the response is that much better than where it was," Gard said Saturday. "Part of that's just growth and maturity, they're another year older. Everybody’s back off last year’s team … Sometimes you got to go through those rough times to grow, get bobbed around a little bit, and figure some things out.

“It doesn’t always happen overnight. What we’re seeing is a result of what we went through last year and the growth that is starting to take place. We got to keep pushing them. We’re not where we need to be, can be.”

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