Takeaways from No.11 Wisconsin's 78-56 Loss at Rutgers

Entering halftime at Pinnacle Bank Arena up 16 points over Nebraska, Wisconsin looked every bit like the sixth-ranked team in the country, a Big Ten title contender, and a dark horse team that could make a run in the NCAA Tournament with its efficient offense.

In seven halves, and one overtime session of Basketball, all those thoughts have drastically changed.

Rutgers never trailed against No.11 Wisconsin Saturday afternoon, jumping on the Badgers early and not relenting in a 78-56 victory at Jersey Mike’s Arena.

It adds more salt in the wound for the Badgers (16-8, 8-5 Big Ten) which saw their losing streak extend to four games (their longest since 2018) and complete a week where it lost to the league’s last-place and 12th-place team.

It was the biggest margin of victory for Rutgers (13-10, 5-7) over a ranked team in school history but students didn’t even bother storming the court.

Here are my takeaways from an ugly defeat.

Clifford Omoruyi outjumped Steven Crowl on the opening tip, Rutgers ran a double screen and Omoruyi rolled to the rim for an uncontested slam dunk and opened the scoring. Evidently the tweaks Wisconsin made to its defense since Wednesday’s disappointment had no impact.

Rutgers scored nine points on its first five possessions with relative ease, while everything looked challenging for Wisconsin’s offense with four turnovers and two missed three-pointers on five possessions.

UW followed Omoruyi’s dunk with A.J. Storr getting pressed and making an ill-advised post pass that was easily intercepted. Forward Mawot Mag easily drove past Max Klesmit to convert at the rim and draw a foul, leading to a three-point play. Rutgers’ pressure forced a 10-second violation, leading to a Rutgers jump shot.

UW finally attempted a shot on its third possession (two missed threes) and Rutgers extended the lead to 9-0 with a pull-up jumper. Chucky Hepburn finished the next possession getting the ball stripped in the lane.

The Badgers managed to cut the lead down to two at the 14:14 mark, but Rutgers went on a 7-0 run that was all paint buckets coming through contact, turnovers, and a fast break.

There are no secrets to where the strength of Rutgers lies. The Scarlet Knights have a 91.3 adjusted defensive efficiency (No. 2 in the nation behind No.5 Houston), ranked first in the conference in 3-point defense (30.6), second in forced turnovers (15.3), field goal defense (39.9), and third in points allowed (65.4).

The Scarlet Knights pressured the ball to generate offense, and they generated 12 points off UW’s 11 first-half turnovers.

Storr didn’t always make the best decisions with the ball in his hands, but the sophomore did put pressure on the rim. He was one of the few players who did, as UW was 12-for-28 on shots around the rim. Rutgers outscored UW, 38-26, in the paint and 15-5 off turnovers, as the Badgers let the pressure get to them.

Senior center and rim protector Omoruyi more than doubled his season average in blocks (3.0) by tying his career high with eight. To go along with his 13 points and 13 rebounds, he was the first D-1 player to hit that stat line against an AP Top 25 team since Texas’ Mo Bamba in 2017.

Storr finished 5-for-16, while fellow starters Tyler Wahl and Crowl (3-for-8) didn’t develop much low-post momentum and guards Hepburn (0-for-4) and Klesmit (1-for-7) were 0-for-6 on shots inside the arc.

UW was 5-for-21 on three-pointers, 14-for-37 on two-pointers, and 13-for-22 on free throws.

If that wasn’t rough enough, Rutgers’ defense sparked an offense that was ranked 297th in adjusted offensive efficiency (99.5) and its 27.8 three-point percentage was 342nd. The Scarlet Knights put five players in double figures, averaged 1.2 points per possession, and were 10-for-17 from three-point range (58.8 percent).

In addition to Omuruyi’s dominance, forward Mawot Mag registered four of his five buckets at the rim, guard Jeremiah Williams used his dribble to get into the lane and facilitate (18 points, 7 assists), and Noah Fernandes was a perfect 6-for-6 off the bench (5-for-5 on threes) for 17 points.

Wisconsin let everybody have a stellar day on offense.

With Kamari McGee (foot) missing his sixth straight game and John Blackwell (hip) missing his first, the Badgers needed Klesmit to log quality minutes to help protect the depth and inexperience on the bench. That’s why his going to the bench for the final 13:31 didn’t help matters, especially when his second foul was completely avoidable.

Switched into a mismatch with Omoruyi, Klesmit was beaten at the rim for an easy dunk but decided to take a swipe at the ball. Not only did Klesmit miss, but he hit Omoruyi in the leg to lead to an easy three-point play.

The lead only swelled four points from Rutgers +5 to +9, but the Badgers did nothing with their reserves to stop the momentum building with the home team.

3:53 – Amount of time Wisconsin has led in its two losses against last-place Michigan and 12th-place Rutgers.

25.6 – Wisconsin’s perimeter shooting percentage over its four-game losing streak (23-for-90). The Badgers were hitting 36.1 percent of their 3-point shots before their losing streak.

0-2 – Badgers’ record on the East Coast this season (at Providence: 59 pts, 33.9% FG, 25% 3FGs, 12 TOs; at Rutgers: 56 pts, 32.8% FG, 23.8% 3FGs, 12 TOs).

15 – Points for Connor Essegian, a season-high, but coming on 15 shots.

.824 – Points per possession for Wisconsin, which had a season-low 56 points on a season-worst 32.8 percent shooting.

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