CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois head coach Brad Underwood began his postgame press conference by describing the University of Wisconsin as one of the best defensive teams in the country, which was why he radiated with pride that his team broke out of an offensive funk with 79 points.

“We trusted and we believed,” he said. “We trusted that the offense was going to give us opportunities to give shots.”

He conveniently omitted that the Badgers didn’t have their most versatile defender, which is fitting because Wisconsin didn’t use the absence of Tyler Wahl as an excuse either as to why they struggled with the defensive communications in a 10-point loss Saturday afternoon.

“We got 16 guys on the team, and we all go through practice every day,” junior Steven Crowl said. “I don’t anybody is using (Wahl’s absence) as a crutch. We’d love to have Tyler back, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”

Here are my takeaways from the State Farm Center.

Limiting transition chances and fouls, crashing the boards with more desperation than it did against Minnesota, and chasing them off the perimeter were also positives for short-handed Wisconsin defensively entering the locker room.

Illinois was limited to 1.0 points per possession in the first half, but things were starting to brew negatively once Crowl sat for the final 3:42 with two fouls. UW led 24-22 at that point but Illinois scored eight points on its final five possessions to close the half on an 11-3 run.

“Steve getting two fouls and having to sit takes away a pretty prominent post presence,” head coach Greg Gard said. “I thought that got us out of sync offensively.”

The beginning of the second half was largely the same story. Illinois scored 13 points on eight possessions, including three-pointers on three consecutive possessions, that built a 13-point lead. It was an uphill battle from that point, as Illinois averaged 1.324 points per possession and UW never got the lead under seven.

“Our defensive breakdowns, if they hit a couple threes, any team in the nation can feel like they can hit anything,” guard Chucky Hepburn said. “We just kept breaking down defensively and they kept getting open threes.

“Just lack of communication. We lacked communication all day.”

The improvement of Illinois’ inside-out game was evident on the first possession. Matthew Mayer, who had averaged 16.0 points over the last six games, did not attempt a shot in the first half. He started the second half with two low-post touches sandwiched around his offensive rebound and his first points on the first possession. He attempted three more shots on the next two possessions that ended with attempts.

One of only two power conference players averaging at least 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists, Terrence Shannon Jr. surpassed those marks with 24 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.

What really hurt UW was Coleman Hawkins, who entered the game 15-for-53 from the perimeter but hit 6-for-9. Illinois finished an efficient 6-for-10 from three-point range and 12-for-22 on two-point shots in the second half, as the Badgers struggled to cover pick-and-pop scenarios.

“Defensively was where the game was decided in what we didn’t do and what we didn’t get done consistently enough,” Gard said. “Credit to Coleman Hawkins for taking advantage of some of our mistakes … We got loose, got disjointed, and Illinois took advantage of that, and they can do that with how they spread you, specifically if Hawkins is shooting threes like that.”

While Crowl and Hepburn downplayed the absence of Wahl, it was evident that the senior's absence and his ability to alleviate pressure, lead communications in the huddle, and his experience defending ball screens and switching could have helped.

Wisconsin had two players score over 20 points but the performances of Hepburn (22) and Crowl (20) have the feel of quiet nights. From the 7:59 mark of the first half to the 12:42 mark of the second half, the pair combined for only one bucket. From the start of the game to when Illinois built its 13-point lead, the pair had a combined eight points.

Hepburn got hot with a mini 6-0 run that cut the lead to seven, but the sophomore missed a free throw and a layup on the next end down the court as Illinois rebuild momentum. He was also pressured constantly and finished with three turnovers, including the rarity of once dribbling the ball off his foot.

Crowl was 8-fo-11 on two-point shots and had 12 rebounds, including four on the offensive end, but was 1-for-7 from the perimeter in a team-wide struggle from three-point range. UW finished 8-for-29 from the perimeter, a number improved by Hepburn making two shots in the final 37 seconds with UW down 13.

Wahl leads Wisconsin in scoring (13.2 ppg) and free-throw attempts (61) and is second in rebounds (6.4 per game), so having him ruled out with the ankle injury he suffered Tuesday was a blow. When Wahl was on the floor against the Gophers, the Badgers held a 9-6 rebounding edge and allowed Minnesota only one offensive rebound on eight missed shots. Without him on the floor, UW was outrebounded, 31-18, and allowed nine offensive rebounds in 31 minutes.

Last season, Wahl missed UW’s first game against Michigan State with an ankle problem. The result was similarly ugly, as the Spartans shot 52.7 percent (29 of 55) and outrebounded UW, 39-20, in an 86-74 victory in Madison. The 86 points were a season-high. The 79 points against Illinois? You guessed it, a season-high for a UW opponent.

The Badgers went heavy with their three forward rotation of Crowl, Carter Gilmore (who got his first career start), and Markus Ilver. The plan had the potential for going off the rails early. Crowl picked up his first foul 38 seconds into the game and Gilmore his first foul at 2:54. Gilmore looked solid early, outrebounding two Illini players to keep a possession alive that eventually led to Crowl’s opening bucket. He had three rebounds in the first seven minutes and made both of his shots in the low post but didn’t score again and finished with seven rebounds.

Playing a career-high 11 minutes on Tuesday following Wahl’s injury, Ilver surpassed that with 12:45 in the first half and 18:41 for the game. He was active in a three-possession span, backing down 6-10 Hawkins for a paint bucket and nabbing a defensive rebound, but Ilver missed his next five shots (three three-pointers).

Chris Hodges was called on late in the first half for his first appearance in a Big Ten game, pairing him on the floor with Ilver. He committed a foul on his first possession and another one 62 seconds later that put him back on the bench, but he did show near-perfect rim defense to deny Shannon at the rim.

The scouting report is out on Connor Essegian, who at 10.5 points per game is just the fifth Badgers freshman to average double figures through his first 13 games in the last 20 years. Doing that in nonconference play is one thing, but Essegian is learning that the physicality and the scouting of the Big Ten are at a higher level.

Hounded by Illinois’ guards, which spent the afternoon closing driving lanes on the perimeter, Essegian had little room to shoot and finished five points and five attempts, his fewest since the third game of the season against Green Bay.

He struggled defensively, losing contain and getting caught in screens, and made two turnovers, one in front of Gard that led to Shannon’s ferocious one-handed slam to push the lead back to 13.

Gard subbed in Essegian at the end of the first half in hopes of him getting off a buzzer-beating three-pointer, but the freshman was smothered by Illinois and the position disintegrated.

“There’s a lot (where he can grow) on both ends of the floor,” Gard said. “Some of that will help him for the next game and some of that will be over the course of his career, specifically as he gets stronger and gets accustomed to playing physically like this league demands.”

Making free throws remains a constant battle for Wisconsin, which has four starters shooting below 75 percent from the line and three under 70 percent. But the Badgers can’t improve on their numbers if they can’t get to the line, which was the case with UW going 5-for-12 against Illinois.

It’s the fourth time this season Wisconsin has had a game where it missed at least seven free throws. Through 14 games, UW has attempted just 14.9 free throws per game, putting them in the sub.300 rankings nationally.

“Some of it is we didn’t have the ball in (the post) enough,” Gard said. “We did in the second half. We made more of a concerted effort to touch the post, but some of it is how we are finishing. Are we playing off two feet or if we’re going in there jumping off one and fading away? You’re not going to get a call.

“A lot of that is guys (who) haven’t had a lot of experience haven’t figured it out yet. They’ve got to figure it out that playing off two feet, playing strong toward the backboards and the rim, you’re going to get the call more so than if you fall down or fall out of bounds.”

Finishing minus-14 on the boards against Minnesota, one of the poorer rebounding teams in the Big Ten, Wisconsin appeared at a disadvantage without the presence of Wahl and the height of Illinois. The Illini had outrebounded 12 of 14 opponents and was No. 27 in the NCAA with a 6.7 average rebound margin.

So, UW finishing the first half tied in rebounds (18) and points in the paint (14) and finishing the game +12 in the paint and minus-3 on the boards should have been a victory.

“We need to be more aggressive,” Hepburn said. “I started to be a little more aggressive today. I shot more baskets at the rim, so that’s what I need to keep doing for this team to keep being good. We just need to start playing through the post more and being more physical. When we attacked the rim, we were kinda soft.”

3-1 – With Michigan getting knocked off at Michigan State, the Badgers are one of five teams tied for first in the conference, joining the aforementioned teams along with Purdue and Rutgers.

10 – Offensive rebounds and second-chance points for Wisconsin, a marked improvement after finishing with two ORs and no points against Minnesota.

20.8 – Wisconsin’s three-point percentage in its last two trips to the State Farm Center, going 3-for-24 last year and 8-for-29 this season.

5 – Consecutive losses by Wisconsin to the Illini, the Badgers’ longest losing streak in the series since the late 1980s.

7 – Career-high in rebounds for Carter Gilmore

18:41 – Career-high in minutes for Markus Ilver.

9 – Turnovers by Wisconsin. The Badgers have yet to commit more than 11 turnovers in any Big Ten game this season.

44 – Combined points from Crowl and Hepburn on 17-for-36 shooting. Six other players combined to go 11-for-28 for 27 points.

52.6 – Illinois shot a season-best percentage from three-point range (10-for-19)

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