The University of Wisconsin put together its six-game winning streak on the heels of an efficient offense, commanding the paint, and shoring up its defense following the season’s rocky beginning. On an afternoon, the Badgers showed that doing it consistently – especially against teams bigger and more athletic than them – is the next challenge.

To say No.23 Wisconsin was overwhelmed by No.1 Arizona in the Wildcats’ 98-75 victory at the McKale Center would not do service to how dominant the host team was. Arizona (8-0) won nearly every statistical category in its dismantling of the Badgers (7-3) in a performance that showed the gap between them and the top team in the country.

“You want to play really good teams,” head coach Greg Gard said. “We’ve got a good team. Tommy (Lloyd) has got a really good team. Hopefully, through the next three (or) four months, we can get to a point where we’d be at their level.”

Here are my takeaways from Wisconsin’s rough afternoon in Tucson.

Arizona has so much athleticism and does so many things well that Wisconsin had to give something up early. That turned out to be the three-point shot and the Wildcats made them pay, especially when the Badgers failed to adhere to their own rules with ball screens.

The Wildcats broke the game open in the first half when it went 8-for-17 from three-point range, using crisp ball movement to find open shooters and make UW pay for going under ball screens, giving extra room that Arizona simply didn’t need.

Arizona shot 56.3 percent in the first half to lead by 17 at the break, shot 60.7 percent in the second half to lead by as many as 31, and finished at 58.3 percent.

The Wildcats averaged 1.38 points per possession, scoring the most points against UW since the 1994 NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats' guard play was the most impactful. Pelle Larsson was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and made his four three-point shots for a game-high 21 points.

When Larsson got going, the Badgers were forced to extend and that exposed the paint, which senior guard Caleb Love and center Oumar Ballo took advantage of. Love was 7-for-13 from the field and 3-for-8 from the perimeter, but it was his lobs to the rim that Ballo finished with dunks at the rim (15 points, 7-for-8) that ignited the crowd.

“When Larsson makes threes, it changes what you can do defensively because Ballo is such a load inside,” Gard said. “It’s hard to keep help in the paint around him.”

It’s a far cry from the last time UW saw Love. Playing at North Carolina in 2021, Love managed only 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting when the Badgers knocked out the Tar Heels in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Wisconsin was playing decently defensively through the first 10, 11 minutes but then got lost and was buried with a 20-2 run that they never recovered from against a team that is fifth nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. Arizona looked like an NBA team with how Wisconsin couldn’t keep the ball in front, let players free run to the rim, and got overextended.

Simply put, Wisconsin was too loose and too spread out defensively and got bullied by Arizona because of it, looking more like the team that played at Providence and less like the one we’d seen over the previous six games.

Arizona is second nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, holding teams to 89.8 points per 100 possessions. It’s a testament to its athleticism and how it can take away a team’s strengths. Wisconsin has been aggressive in the low post over the last six games, evident with how the Badgers manhandled Marquette and Michigan State around the rim.

A bigger, taller Arizona wasn’t susceptible to that maneuver. The Wildcats collapsed the lane to prevent dribble penetration and opened the mid-range jump shot. UW bought it and, unlike Arizona gaining momentum by hitting early open shots, the Badgers were 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) on two-point shots outside the paint.

On Arizona’s 20-2 decisive run, Wisconsin missed three jumpers, two three-pointers, one free throw, and committed four turnovers. The only offense UW generated was two Tyler Wahl’s free throws. Gard lamented that the run felt like “50-to-2.”

“We had a couple key turnovers that contributed to that avalanche offensively,” Gard said. “The snowball happened, it kept getting bigger and bigger, and it was hard for us to get that under control.”

Even when the low post was open, the Badgers were bothered by Arizona’s length and finished 13-for-24 on shots around the rim, eerily like the struggles they suffered against Tennessee and Providence, which also features teams with athletic forwards who roamed around the rim. Not only does Arizona have Ballo, but adding forward Keshad Johnson from San Diego State, who helped the Aztecs make the national finals last season with a defense that was rated fourth in efficiency, solidified the Wildcats’ frontcourt.

“He’s physical, he’s big, he’s obviously a good athlete,” Gard said of Johnson. “I thought we got rushed at times. I thought we could have kicked it out at times. That’s a credit to them with how physical in addition to how big they are.”

A sign that Wisconsin didn’t attack enough was it was only 5-for-8 from the free throw line, a season-low in makes, and tied for a season-low in attempts.

Tyler Wahl was just 3-for-10 and finished with eight points before fouling out. Steven Crowl was a quiet 1-for-4 in the first half before going 4-for-5 in the second half (too little, too late). A.J. Storr’s athleticism was neutralized by Ballo, who blocked Storr’s two-handed dunk at the rim early in the second half that led to a transition three-pointer on the opposite end.

Nolan Winter played 14 minutes but couldn’t attempt a shot inside the arc, while Carter Gilmore had a decent day offensively (season-high seven points) but struggled at points defensively.

Arizona ranks 14th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (15.14) and sixth nationally in defensive rebounds per game (32.00). The Badgers held the Wildcats to four offensive rebounds (to be fair, Arizona only missed 25 shots) and were OK on the glass in losing the rebounding edge, 39-30, because UW’s guards helped pick up the slack.

Chucky Hepburn matched his season high with six rebounds (going along with seven points, six assists, and one turnover) and John Blackwell finished with a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds. Much like he was in the first half in Providence, Blackwell was UW’s best player on offense.

Playing 26 minutes (more than Storr and Wahl and matching Crowl), Blackwell hit a pair of early threes from either wing while the game was competitive and assisted on a fast-break three-pointer to end the 20-2 run.

In the second half, when UW was desperately trying to get back in the game, Blackwell was the guard willing to consistently attack the rim and attempt to score at the rim or kick to shooters.

5 - Numbers of starters in double figures for Arizona

19 - Fast-break points given up by Wisconsin, a season-high total for a Badgers' opponent

32 - Bench points for Wisconsin, the most the Badgers have scored since the season opener.

77.8 - Arizona's record in three seasons under Tommy Lloyd against AP Top 25 teams.

0-12 - Wisconsin's record against AP Top 25 teams on the road.

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