MILWAUKEE – The University of Wisconsin felt that some offensive choices that cost them against Michigan were corrected Saturday. The Badgers were better at attacking the basket, active on the offensive glass, and used good ball movement to hit open perimeter shots.

They can only hope what they see this time on film can cauterize the defensive wound created by fifth-ranked Marquette picking apart the Badgers' defense and ball security in the second half of an 88-74 defeat at Fiserv Forum.

Dropping two straight after its best season-opening start in over a decade, Wisconsin (8-2) showed an inability to consistently guard the ball, maintain gap integrity, and follow simple principles in preventing lane-line drives. Most of the problems happened over an ugly stretch in the second half that saw Marquette (9-1) score 51 points with only five three-point shots.

“We were on our heels defensively,” head coach Greg Gard said, “and they kept attacking us.”

Like Gard said, the Badgers don’t have much time to correct their problems. Wisconsin flies down to Champaign on Monday for a Tuesday game against Illinois, a program that has beaten them eight straight times.

Here are my takeaways from Fiserv Forum.

Wisconsin led by two at halftime largely with a defensive performance that kept Marquette off the three-point line, away from the offensive glass and mostly contained in the paint. All those positives quickly broke down coming out of the locker room.

Marquette attacked from the first possession on. Forward David Joplin finished at the basket on the first possession, Stevie Mitchell’s offensive rebound led to a Ben Gold three on the second, and Chase Ross delivered a driving layup on the third.

Marquette scored 14 points in the paint on its first 10 offensive possessions, paving the way for 30 points in the paint in the second half and 44 for the game. UW also gave up 17 second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds in the second half.

UW’s offense scored baskets on its first three possessions but handcuffed themselves repeatedly.

From bad passes to offensive turnovers, Wisconsin committed a season-high 16 turnovers. Credit goes to Marquette’s pressure defense, which is eighth nationally in forced turnovers (17.3) and second nationally in steals (11.4 per game), but John Blackwell and Max Klesmit pointed to the Badgers not being fundamentally sound.

In the first 20 possessions of the second half, Wisconsin scored 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting but allowed Marquette to score 35 on 15-for-25. While the Badgers committed seven turnovers, the Golden Eagles committed only one.

Breaking it down even further, a 15-possession stretch where the Badgers went from up one to down 12 because of seven turnovers.

“We had some unfortunate turnovers,” said Klesmit, who led UW with 22 points. “When you get those at home, you use the momentum to your advantage. It was really just timely mistakes. I thought we did a lot of really good things in the first half … Just get shot attempts. You don’t have to make everything, but just get a shot up and make a team guard for 25, 28 seconds can be draining.”

Things turned at the 12:17 mark. A possession after forward Nolan Winter’s offensive rebound turned into a three-point play, cutting the deficit to 57-53, Winter was late getting out to Kam Jones in the corner. His momentum in trying to block Jones’ shot carried him into Jones’ landing zone, drawing a whistle just as Jones’ shot hit the bottom of the net.

The four-point play put Marquette up eight and kickstarted a 13-2 run which UW couldn’t recover from.

“What it did of creating an avalanche of getting us in transition defensively,” Gard said. “They took advantage of that, were able to get to the rim and got confidence going from that. We were playing on our heels for the rest of the second half after that.”

Wisconsin began the day in the mid-50s in Kenpom’s adjusted defensive efficiency ratings but plummeted over 20 spots to No.79, giving up 99.9 points per 100 possessions. Last season, UW was 46th in the rankings, which was a stark drop from the year before when it was 19th

New rule chances have prevented a team like Wisconsin from the physical style of its past without the game turning into a whistle fest.

Gard still believes Wisconsin has the tools to be a good defensive team, but the Badgers won’t get there if it allows teams to control the low post. Michigan did it Tuesday with its dribble penetration and pick-and-roll actions with its 7-footers. Marquette did it with Kam Jones’ ability to drive to the rim and either finish or facilitate.

Jones finished with 32 points on 21 shots, adding six assists and no steals.

“He got it going,” Blackwell said of Jones. “It’s hard to shut him down when he has it going like that. I think we did the best we can. We just got to keep the ball out of the paint and keep guys like that

Klesmit believes that the Badgers' inability to keep the ball in front of defenders and their inability to defend aggressively without fouling are the “one or two things that are jumping out” to him about their defensive issues.

“I think we got a lot of good team-minded defenders on this team,” Klesmit said. “We just got to come together. That comes from repetition and practice. It comes from trusting each other every single day.”

Running into Jones in the hallway after the game, Gard congratulated the senior by calling him an old man, a complement to one of the best point guards nationally who doesn’t get sped it and has a strong mental grasp of how to play the position.

Blackwell could learn a lesson or two from him.

Since Chucky Hepburn departed in the portal, Blackwell has been given bigger ownership of the point guard role. He was efficient with his shot (7-for-11) but committed four turnovers, three in that 15-possession stretch where Marquette took control.

“He had one dribble off his leg and the other he threw across the court,” Gard said. “Those are unforced. You have to make better decisions, especially when you get in games like this.”

Blackwell committed no turnovers in the first half and nine in the second in the last two games (although he twice lost track of the shot clock that led to two violations in Saturday’s first half). Gard wants Blackwell to follow Jones’ lead and have his guard playing faster to put opponents on their heels.

“I thought we got ourselves in trouble at times because we took our time bringing the ball up,” Gard said. “We wanted to bring it with some pace and get them retreating a little bit. Kam(ari McGee) puts us into that aggressive mindset a little bit faster and a little bit better just because of the type of player he is.

“I think the biggest thing for John you got to make better decisions, but I want him playing aggressive. I want him playing downhill, and quite frankly doing more of that earlier.”

Gard believes the film will show a handful of Wisconsin’s turnovers were self-inflicted and came from UW’s players not playing off two feet more. He mentioned senior John Tonje by name in that department, as the senior delivered his first “off” performance of the season with 14 points on 3-for-11 shooting and a team-high five turnovers.

“That’s an ongoing quest with him to play off two feet because it’s going to allow him to finish better. It’s going to allow him to get to the free throw line more and it’s going to allow him to make better decisions because he’s not cut up in the air with the ball.”

2 – Marquette outshot Wisconsin from the foul line (18-21 to 16-18), making only the second time this season the Badgers have been outshot from the stripe (UCF outshot UW 26-37 to 12-16)

5 – Assists for Carter Gilmore, four of which came in a nine-possession span in the first half. His five assists is a new career-high.

9 – Points for Wisconsin’s starting frontcourt Saturday, getting seven from Winter (3-for-4) and two from Steven Crowl (1-for-4)

18.7 – Klesmit’s career scoring average against Marquette.

44 – Marquette’s 88 points were the most the Golden Eagles have scored against Wisconsin since a 94-64 win in Milwaukee in 1982, a span of 44 games.

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