The University of Wisconsin walked off the floor at Value City Arena in exclusive company.
The Badgers’ 71-60 win over Ohio State on January 10 was their 17th road victory in the last three seasons, making them one of only four major conference teams to hit that level of success.
Since then, the Badgers have looked lost on the road with a 1-3 record, the only success being a come-from-behind 61-59 win at Minnesota and the latest being an ugly 72-68 defeat at last-place Michigan.
The problems that led to Wisconsin’s undoing were the same problems the Badgers dealt with during the first week of the season: defense lapses, open driving lanes for quick guards, and turnovers. UW has added to that list of problems with shot selection and the glaring disappearance of forward Steven Crowl.
All these things combined have taken the Badgers from a team that entered February in first place in the Big Ten to sitting in solo third place, two games behind Purdue and a half-game behind Illinois.
They are all intertwined, too, and started from the onset against the Wolverines. A team that had lost five straight and 11 of 12, the Wolverines’ confidence grew by hitting 7 of their nine shots that was sparked by UW turning the ball over six times in the first 19 possessions, including three of its first four.
UW has averaged 9.5 turnovers in its eight conference wins and 11.5 in its losses, the latter number saved by UW committing just five turnovers in its Sunday loss to No.2 Purdue.
“You give any team confidence, let alone one that is really searching for good things to happen, and you are asking for trouble,” said head coach Greg Gard, as Michigan turned 12 UW turnovers into 12 points. “You’re not going to have success against anybody when you’re turning the ball over, given the percentage of possessions that we had.”
Michigan shot only 36.0 percent in the second half, but the Wolverines set the stage for their upset by guard Dug McDaniel following the blueprint many quick guards have laid out against UW’s defense.
McDaniel got the bulk of his offense by beating Chucky Hepburn and other UW guards off the dribble, attacking the paint, and finishing around the rim when the Badgers’ help defense wasn’t quick enough to stop the ball from moving downhill. He scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, when Michigan shot 53.8 percent overall and 10 of 15 (66.7 percent) on two-point shots.
“This is a team issue that we've got to get fixed,” Gard said.
When UW wasn’t making McDaniel change directions, the Badgers were fouling. Michigan made nine field goals but 14 free throws on 18 attempts in the second half (and 19 of 25 overall) to close out UW, which led for just 3 minutes, 53 seconds despite having dominant stretches offensively.
Facing one of the conference’s worst defensive teams, the Badgers had 40 points in the paint and went 20-for-25 at the rim. Much like what happened at Nebraska and Purdue, Wisconsin didn’t stick with the winning formula.
After A.J. Storr (game-high 20 points) gave Wisconsin a 48-44 lead via a layup with 13:47 left, the Badgers attempted and missed three-pointers on four of the next five possessions. UW finished 5-for-19 on threes and is 8-for-38 from the perimeter over the last two games (21.1 percent).
The one non-three-point miss in that sequence after a Crowl offensive foul, his fourth foul that sent him to the bench with Wisconsin down one. When he returned more than five minutes later and the Badgers down six, Crowl attempted a deep right-handed hook shot that drew the ire of Gard, especially after Michigan hit a three-pointer on the other end to grow its lead to nine.
He likely would have been subbed back out, but Gard was uncuffed largely because reserves Carter Gilmore, Markus Ilver, and freshman Nolan Winter all delivered uneven play in the frontcourt. Crowl’s absence allowed Michigan forwards Olivier Nkamhoua and Tarris Reed Jr. to combine for 20 points and 18 rebounds.
Crowl scored just three points, hit one of his four shots from the field, and had four rebounds in 19 uneven minutes. He has scored only 10 points on 12 shots over the last three games.
“We got to get him going because that's been another common denominator here in the last three games,” Gard said. "We got to get him playing to his potential.”
The remainder of February was supposed to be an opportunity for Wisconsin to start surging toward the postseason, playing six consecutive teams in the bottom half of the conference standings. Suddenly, nothing seems for certain as UW prepares to play at Rutgers (12-10, 4-7) Saturday afternoon, a team that is 9-3 at home.
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