The facial on Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard’s face at the podium following Wisconsin’s 43-42 victory could have multiple adjectives attached to it: relief, bewilderment, frustration, and appreciation all come to mind. It was probably a little bit of everything as the Badgers piece together just enough to beat a Dayton team that has all the makings of an NCAA Tournament squad come March.

"For a lot of these guys, it's the first time being the guy (and) not sitting down by the water cooler at the end of the bench," Gard said. "All this experience, that's why these types of tournaments and this event are terrific. It's great for our team because it's going to force us to grow."

Improving to 3-0 all-time in the Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinals, here are my takeaways.

Dayton was one of the last teams out of the NCAA Tournament field last season and return a combination of size, experience, and talent. They are better on paper than UW is currently, but the Badgers (4-0) did a fantastic job early of clogging the lane and forcing the Flyers to shoot jump shots.

Wisconsin held Dayton (3-2) to 30.2 percent from the field, 4-for-27 from the perimeter, 4-for-9 on layups, and 17 turnovers.

In retrospect, the Badgers won the game over the final 10 minutes of the first half (holding the Flyers to three points (none in the final five minutes), misses on 13 of their 14 field goal attempts and four turnovers), and on their final defensive possession.

Clinging to a 43-42 lead with 24.4 seconds left, the Badgers’ pack defense ran the shot clock down to 8.5 seconds before Dayton burned its final timeout. Max Klesmit came up with UW’s only block of the game on Kobe Elvis (16 points), leaving only two seconds on the game clock and one on the shot clock.

“Really just trusting the preparation and what we had prepared for,” Klesmit said of the final possession. “I knew that some of their stuff they like to go to slide-out screens and get their guards going to their strong hand. (I tried) to sit on that the best that I could and guard without following.”

The Flyers were unable to get a shot off on the ensuing inbounds, resulting in a shot-clock violation and allowing UW to run the remaining 1.4 seconds off the clock.

“We knew this was going to be a battle,” Gard said. “Just proud of our guys, how they continue to find a way. It wasn’t always pretty, as aesthetic as we wanted it to be on the offensive end, but defensively this group is continuing to show and grow and develop some grit, some toughness, and making timely plays that at times don’t show up on the stat sheet that helping have success in games.”

Wisconsin will have another tough challenge tomorrow in Kansas, 80-72 winners over North Carolina State in the day’s first quarterfinal. Five-star forward Gradey Dick has scored 92 points for the Jayhawks, the most by a Kansas freshman in the team’s first five games in 25 years.

Throughout the 40 minutes, Wisconsin had scoring droughts between baskets of 5:10, 4:54, 3:07, 4:47, and 3:17, the latter being the final stretch of the game. During one stretch, the Badgers missed nine straight shots (and 11 of 12) but still led by one point with 5:50 remaining.

All of it boils down to the Badgers shooting a season-worst 23.7 percent on offense and just 22.2 percent (6-for-27) from the perimeter, leading Gard to not sugarcoat things by saying the offense wasn’t good enough.

“Shots needed to be better in terms of the shots we were getting,” he said. “When we did move the ball and played through the paint, I don’t think we played through the paint enough. When we did that, we had good things happen. We had a couple sequences in both halves where I thought we took bad shots. That doesn’t allow you to set your defense, and then you’re playing in transition, which is a strength of Dayton.”

Steven Crowl came alive in the second half to score seven of his nine points but the other four starters (Jordan Davis, Chucky Hepburn, Klesmit, and Tyler Wahl) each made just one basket on a combined 30 attempts. Wahl and Hepburn, UW’s two established starters and contributors, had three and two points, respectively. Wahl had a big three-point play that put UW up three with 4:48 to go but otherwise missed his other seven shots. Hepburn was 1-for-10 with a season-high three turnovers.

“Sometimes (I liked Wahl and Hepburn’s shot selection). Sometimes not in terms of the shots that we took,” Gard said. “It’s two players who are experienced, old players that have helped us win a ton of games at Wisconsin. I’m going to continue to play through those guys. Fortunately, they have teammates that stepped up and helped them out.”

Wisconsin's five starters were 5-for-20 in the first half, but the Badgers built a lead that turned out to be insurmountable because Connor Essegian and Isaac Lindsey off the bench were 7-for-9 for the Badgers, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range.

Essegian had 11 of UW’s first 13 points, while Lindsey hit a three-pointer off a set play following a timeout, working underneath the basket to take the feed from Davis at the perimeter, getting a screen from Carter Gilmore to have space, and hitting the three-pointer from the elbow.

“I just want to come in and bring that spark that the team needs, whatever is needed,” Essegian said. “At the time it was a pretty low-scoring game. It just kind of fell in place like that. I really am reading what’s going on on the floor at the time on the bench, coming in, and doing what’s needed.”

Both players cooled in the second half, which allowed forward Markus Ilver to be the savior with a pair of three-pointers. After promptly checking in with 15:14 remaining, Ilver secured an offensive rebound and hit one of his perimeter shots.

Those three combined to score 24 points off the bench, which also got 19 minutes from Gilmore (three rebounds, one steal) and one from Chris Hodges.

“We tell everyone all the time (to) be ready,” Gard said. “Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. For a young big guy like Chris Hodges, to be in a position where he can get a few minutes against (Dayton forward) DaRon Holmes is great experience for him and things he’ll learn from.”

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