On the road inside PNC Arena, the Wisconsin Badgers fell to N.C. State, 69-54, during the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
BadgerBlitz.com breaks down five observations from Wisconsin's third consecutive defeat before it returns home to start Big Ten play.
1. At the moment, and since a part of last season, Wisconsin has not been a good three-point shooting team.
In only two of the eight games this season has UW shot over 36 percent from three-point range -- both home games against Marquette and Green Bay. Against N.C. State, the team finished a frigid 21.7 percent in that category on 5-of-23 shooting. The quartet of D'Mitrik Trice, Brad Davison, Nate Reuvers and Brevin Prtizl combined to make only three of 18 from beyond the arc in Raleigh.
We saw this towards the end of last season with the team shooting colder from downtown. Now with Indiana coming to town on Saturday, the Badgers still have questions needing to be answered about if it can begin to hit from deep more consistently. For a team that is apparently so reliant on outside shooting, the big question is: who will snap out of the cold spell?
2. Wisconsin's defense could not adequately stop N.C. State in the second half.
The Badgers allowed the Wolfpack to shoot 52 percent in the second half (13-of-25), and for as off as Greg Gard's team was shooting from three-point range, it gave up five of 10 from deep in those final 20 minutes.
Three N.C. State players scored in double figures on Wednesday night, led by Jericole Hellems' 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 30:28 of game time. That included the forward connecting on four of six three-point attempts, making two of three in each half.
The trio of Braxton Beverly, Markell Johnson and C.J. Bryce made a combined eight of 13 shots for 18 points in the second half as well to complement Hellems' big game.
Overall, N.C. State shot 48.2 percent from the field. Not a recipe for success on the road.
3. Free throw shooting troubles pop up on Wednesday night.
For a team that came in to the game shooting 81.1 percent, Wisconsin again showed a positive trend in getting to the free throw line more than its opponent.
The problem is, they did not take advantage of those opportunities. Perhaps it would not have overall changed the outcome of the contest, but UW made only seven of 15 shots from the charity stripe against N.C. State. No Badger made above 60 percent for the game. Not to pick on freshman Tyler Wahl too much (more about him below in a positive manner), but he connected on just one of four attempts. He missed his first three before hitting his last one.
The Wolfpack, on the other hand, made seven of 10 in this category.
4. Tyler Wahl showed why he is receiving so much early playing time.
The first-year forward from across the Mississippi River played over 19 minutes against the Wolfpack, and outside of the poor free throw shooting and one turnover, again displayed an early maturity and ability to create opportunities with his effort. He finished the game with five points and eight rebounds -- four of those boards coming on the offensive end -- and a plus/minus of +1.
Once Ohio State transfer Micah Potter is (finally) eligible to play in games in late December, it will be interesting to see how the rotation changes for Gard. That said, Wahl has shown he belongs on the court and the ability to provide meaningful minutes.
5. Kobe King attacked more inside, though did not finish off some potential opportunities in the paint.
Against New Mexico last week, the redshirt sophomore scored just six points on 3-of-9 shooting (0-of-3 from deep). Facing N.C. State on Wednesday night, he appeared to attack inside more and attempted to assert himself as seen previously this season. He attempted just one three against the Wolfpack while drawing four fouls in an 11-point effort.
King shot just 4-of-11 from the field. Based on shot charts provided after the game, that included missing four shots in the paint and within the key.
