Following its philosophies, Wisconsin has better success from deep

Priding itself on the defensive end is nothing new for the Wisconsin basketball program. With that, the Badgers attributed much of their loss to Ohio State last Saturday to their inability to lock down defensively.

It isn't great to allow a team to shoot 51 percent from the field and 56 percent in the second half. But it certainly doesn't help to go 7-of-28 from three-point range on the same night. The 28 attempts launched made up nearly half of the 57 field goals Wisconsin took against the Buckeyes.

But in terms of shot selection, they were looks head coach Greg Gard "would take any day of the week."

"Not enough but I thought a vast majority of the threes were good looks and we had some wide open ones other than two or three that come to mind," Gard said. "We talked about touching the paint a lot. I thought when we did do it we had a lot of good things happen. But, again, we did have some extremely good looks that we have to take at that point in time.”

Nate Reuvers spoke to the media following the loss and reiterated the same sentiment. They were good looks but shots simply weren't falling.

"They wiped out one of Brad’s threes, too, on that offensive foul or whatever they called. I was 0-for-3, I think Micah (Potter) was 0-for-4 and until Aleem (Ford) really got going there, we really weren’t hitting anything from three," Reuvers said. "You can’t rely on that, but it’s obviously tough when you're not hitting good looks.”

After Gard went back and watched the film, what he saw in real time Saturday afternoon was reinforced.

"In analyzing the numbers, there's a point in time, too, where you don't want to overanalyze it and micromanage shot selection, because then you have players second guessing," Gard said in a Zoom call Monday afternoon. "But by and large there were 11, 12 or maybe 13 that I would take any day of the week. I’m talking wide open and they were wide open.

"There were five or six, maybe one or two more, where you’d say, 'alright, no, don’t take it,' given time, where the ball came from. But by and large I thought we had some exceptional good looks. Watching it live and then going through the film a few times, I think the same thing played out."

Wisconsin currently has five players who are shooting over 37 percent from beyond the arc and two more in the rotation - Ford and Reuvers - who are capable shooters. Senior Brad Davison believes the numbers will average out and the cold shooting night will be an anomaly.

“We always say averages average out, so if you have a game where you’re not shooting well, that means the next game you’re going to knock them down, so you can’t stop shooting," Davison said. "We have a lot of different guys on our team that shooting is a great strength and a great weapon for them and it forces the defense to spread out and run you off the line."

"We don't necessarily talk about twos and threes, we talk about good shots. So if the shot is there you've got to trust it and you have to take it," Davison added. "We are all very confident in our shot and confident in our teammate’s ability to make shots. When the shot’s open, we’re definitely going to step up and try to knock it down.”

As it turns out, Davison was right on the money. Wednesday night, Wisconsin followed up its 7-of-28 shooting night three three against Ohio State with a 10-of-26 showing in a win over Maryland. Potter led the charge, going 4-of-6 from deep after a combined 2-of-11 over the previous three games.

There may not be an exact number that qualifies as too many threes taken in a given contest. The Badgers do, however, have a philosophy for how they want to get their looks from deep.

"We shot it much better and the ones we made," Gard said. "The ball got into high percentage areas, the ball got into the paint and we kicked it back out, whether it was in transition or in some special situation, or we shot them with our momentum going toward the basket. And that’s the thing we probably talk about the most.

"It's pretty evident on film the ones that are going in are the ones that we’re stepping into, running into, 10 toes to the rim, ball coming inside out, ball has entered the ‘TFZ’ (10 foot zone). That’s the type of shot that impacts percentage more than anything else."

Naturally, as much as the team liked the looks they got against the Buckeyes, their performance on the offensive end Wednesday night produced a better result.

"Micah, the ones he was making were inside out," Gard said following the road win over Maryland. "He’s sitting here in this room, he probably knows the one or two that he missed. There’s one he might want back but the rest I thought were good shots. He was stepping into them, the ball was coming inside out, his momentum was going toward the rim and the same thing for some of the other guys who were able to knock down shots.

"Trevor’s (Anderson) three at the end of the first half I thought was big, but he stepped into that and that was off an offensive rebound, which is a great time to shoot a three. I thought we made more because we took better ones, for the most part.”

Stepping back a bit, the offense has struggled to get off to quick starts and has gone through cold stretches of five-plus minutes where it can't buy a bucket. Against Michigan, the Badgers were on the wrong end of a 43-6 run. And against Ohio State, UW's offense finished the final 4:36 1-of-6 from the field, including 0-of-4 from three.

Against Maryland, their final field goal of the night was a three from Potter with 7:05 to play. Luckily, the 15-point cushion was enough to hold on for the win.

"That’s something that we’re going to have to work on moving forward," senior point guard D'Mitrik Trice said after the win over Maryland. "Last six minutes of the game we can’t hold the ball. We can’t run one action and feel like we’re forced to get into a ball screen and make something happen at the end of the shot clock every time. I think we need to get into running some sets there toward the end and get an easy basket or get fouled instead of forcing it - to let one person or couple guys play with a ball screen and force it."

In true Wisconsin fashion, Davison pointed to the importance of clamping down on the defensive end to allow the offense to come to them.

"It’s a game of momentum, so when you’re struggling to score you have to make sure your defense keeps you in the game and you have to learn," Davison said. "Whether it’s because you're taking bad shots or turning the ball over or maybe they’re playing good defense, you just have to continue to learn from it and continue to adapt.

"We know that with the amount of talent, the amount of pieces that we have, we know that we’re going to find a way to get the ball in the hoop one way or another. Just continuing to learn, continuing to get better and sticking together is definitely the key."