Quick Hits: Cold-Shooting Wisconsin Bounced in Second Round by Iowa State
MILWAUKEE – Winning an NCAA Tournament game by shooting 29.8 percent, committing a season-high 17 turnovers, and having your starting point guard on the bench with an injured left ankle? That must take some kind of gumption and tenacity.
There’s no question the University of Wisconsin had the resourcefulness to do more with less all season, but the Badgers created too much adversity of themselves to extend their season to the regional semifinals.
The third-seeded Badgers were unable to tap into another partisan crowd in their favor, crippled by long scoring lulls and sloppy play in a 54-49 defeat to 11th-seeded Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament second round at Fiserv Forum.
Gabe Kalscheur – who spent the previous three seasons looking up at the Badgers in the Big Ten standings at Minnesota – scored a game-high 22 points to lead Iowa State (22-12) to the school’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2016.
Kalscheur made 10 field goals, which was four less than Wisconsin (25-8) made in UW’s worst-shooting NCAA Tournament game since 2013.
The issues offensively shouldn’t have come as a shock, not with the Cyclones ranking eighth-nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and the Badgers being the worst shooting teams in the Big Ten this season.
The numbers were even worse in the second half. After Chris Vogt’s putback dunk, Wisconsin went scoreless for nearly six minutes, a stretch that was littered with bad shot attempts and four turnovers. Iowa State used those mistakes on a decisive 9-0 run to take a 36-28 lead with 12:35 remaining.
The stretch without a field goal lasted 8 minutes, 20 seconds and ended up being the crippling blow to Wisconsin’s season.
Things were already looked dicey late in the first half when freshman point guard Chucky Hepburn went down writhing in pain, clutching his left ankle. Unable to put any weight on it, Hepburn was taken straight to the locker room. He was ruled out prior to the second half.
Iowa State closed the half on an 8-4 run after Hepburn’s departure, including an uncontested layup off an inbounds pass with 1.4 seconds left to give the Cyclones a 27-26 halftime lead. The post touches were a problem in the opening 20 minutes, as Iowa State scored 18 of its points in the lane. For comparison, they were outscored 20-6 in the lane by LSU in the opening round.
What it means: Wisconsin dropped to 10-8 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and failed to make the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive NCAA Tournament, much to the dismay of the thousands of fans that packed Fiserv Forum.
Star of the game: In four career games against the Badgers, Kalscheur was averaging 10.5 points on 36.1 percent shooting. He reached double figures in each half for the Cyclones, including seven straight on that 9-0 run.
Stat of the game: Leading the nation with an 8.3 turnovers-per game average, Wisconsin's previous high for turnovers in a game was 13 in its win at Indiana, a number the Badgers equaled with 12:56 remaining. That shouldn’t be a complete shock since Iowa State forced 19 turnovers against LSU, including 15 steals.
Don’t overlook: How much Hepburn meant to Wisconsin this season. With him on the floor, Wisconsin was 8-for-17 shooting. With Hepburn on the bench, the Badgers went 6-for-30.
What’s next: Instead of making its third Sweet 16 in the last five tournaments, Wisconsin lost to a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in the last 20 years. While the season will ultimately be viewed as a success, capturing the school’s 20th Big Ten championship after being picked preseason 10th by the media, the sting of playing so poorly in a defecto home game in the NCAA Tournament will be a tough pill to swallow. UW will head into the offseason needing to replace seniors Brad Davison and Chris Vogt and, likely, sophomore Johnny Davis, but the program has a good nucleus of players in place to build around.
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