MADISON, Wis. – What a difference a basket or two would have made for the University of Wisconsin in the last two months.

Nineteen combined points were the margin of defeat in the Badgers’ five Big Ten losses in 2023, four of those games by four points or less and the last three by one possession, which includes Thursday’s 63-61 defeat to No.5 Purdue.

If Steven Crowl didn’t miss a putback off an offensive rebound with 8:39 remaining or Max Klesmit’s running layup through traffic found the bottom of the net with 28 seconds left, the Badgers might have celebrated a court-storming win.

But instead of adding a key victory to its fleeting NCAA Tournament resume, the Badgers are again left wondering why winning close games is no longer a specialty.

“We’re a pretty good 16-13 team,” head coach Greg Gard. “We’re all better than our record shows, but we haven’t gotten the results, so apparently we’re not.”

My takeaways from the Kohl Center.

Up three with time running out, Wisconsin was unable to get the critical foul call in the closing seconds of regulation of what eventually became a stunning overtime loss at Michigan Sunday. Days later, Purdue showed Wisconsin how it is supposed to be done.

The Boilermakers had fouls to work with after only being whistled for six up until the final two possessions. With Purdue leading by three and Wisconsin having the ball, the Boilermakers hacked away and put Chucky Hepburn on the line with nine seconds remaining and Klesmit on the line with six seconds. The pair made the four free throws, keeping the pressure on Purdue to make its freebees (which it did by going 5-for-6 in the last 21 seconds), but the Badgers never had a quality attempt to either tie or take the lead on their final three possessions.

“It’s pretty frustrating because we’ve been playing well enough to win and we just haven’t been able to get it done,” senior Tyler Wahl said.

From a defensive, effort, and tempo standpoint, Wisconsin was where it needed to be to win, but those three things don’t help put the ball in the net. UW didn’t make a field goal in the final 3:30, getting outscored 7-4 the rest of the way after Hepburn missed two baseline jumpers and Wahl missed a long attempt with the shot clock about to expire.

“Chucky’s was a good one, he’s hit that shot before,” Gard said. “Tyler had to shoot it a couple times. Max, we got exactly where we wanted to with 20 seconds to go … That’s the line we’re walking. We’ve got to be able to make plays.”

Gard got a lot of criticism for the inability to add an experienced forward toward the transfer portal in the offense to add a scoring punch, fortify depth, and take pressure off of Crowl and Wahl. However, the move to bring Neenah native Klesmit back home is really paying off.

Nobody played harder Thursday than the junior, who scored from the inside, the outside, and did everything he could in the second half to try and give Wisconsin the uplifting victory it needed.

Other than the running layup in the lane that wouldn’t fall and his desperation heave to try and win the game, everything Klesmit touched was critical in the final 20 minutes. After scoring only two points in the first half, Klesmit was in attack mode in the second half and scored 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

He scored eight points on Wisconsin’s 11-1 run early in the second half that put the Badgers up by four. The junior was just getting started with critical plays: his driving layup tied the score at 50, his three-pointer on the next possession put UW up, 53-52, with 7:08 remaining and another layup put UW up, 57-56, with 3:30 left.

He was the only guard that appeared willing to attack the scrum in the middle of the lane, as Purdue limited the Badgers to only 23 rebounds and 18 points in the paint.

Averaging 6.8 points in the 17 games prior to his head injury, Klesmit is averaging 11.0 points over his last 10 games.

UW has fouled Zach Edey three times by the first media timeout; he made only one of the first six free throws. That was the only real weakness he displayed in another dominant performance that included 17 points (7-for-9), 19 rebounds, three assists, no fouls called, and seven fouls drawn.

Assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft said this week that Edey was the biggest mismatch in the history of the Big Ten. Joking or not, he might be right. The Badgers did their best to double him at every touch of the ball, with Crowl being the main defender and either Wahl or another guard crashing down to push him off his spot and make him pass. Edey’s court vision led to open perimeter looks.

Even when Edey didn’t get the ball he drew a crowd, which led Purdue’s other talent to get open looks at the rim for easy shots.

“You try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as you can, but they move in around and change the angle of the entry, so trying to keep ball pressure on passers,” Gard said of the defensive game plan for Edey. “We got some deflections. At times we didn’t have our hands up and they zipped it over the top of us. I think we did a decent job on him for the most part. Obviously, he’s probably national player of the year. He should be.”

As big of an impact he was on offense, Edey thwarted both Crowl and Wahl all game, as the pair of UW forwards went 3-for-16 on shots that included 2-for-12 on two-point field goal attempts.

“It’s hard to get back downs and places where he’s efficient from (with Edey on Wahl),” Gard said. “That’s a tough guy to have to score over the top of.”

Wisconsin’s bench doesn’t strike fear in many people’s eyes when it comes to scoring prowess, especially in the last month since Connor Essegian was moved into the starting lineup. However, UW’s reserves have had shining moments, like Markus Ilver against Dayton, Kamari McGee against Michigan, and Jordan Davis against Rutgers.

The Badgers can add Isaac Lindsey against the Boilermakers to that list.

Mostly on the scout team this season, Lindsey scored a third of his season’s points in five minutes, stepping in aptly for Essegian and delivering eight points on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting to help the lowest-scoring bench in the Big Ten deliver some pop and thrice cut into Purdue’s lead.

“He wasn’t afraid of the moment to knock down shots,” Gard said. “It’s another example of a guy staying ready, waiting for his chance, and making good of his opportunities.”

Strangely, Lindsey didn’t see the floor in the second half; 20 minutes where UW went 12-for-32 from the field and 5-for-13 from three-point range.

While the Gophers are having a historically bad season, they could provide a huge pitfall for the Badgers if they pulled off the upset on Sunday night in Minneapolis. Guaranteed to finish last in the league, Minnesota would deal UW a crushing blow to its resume with a Quad 3 loss (the Gophers rank 240th in the NET rankings. If U-M drops one spot, it would be a Quad-4 loss), and drop the Badgers into the First Four games on Wednesday. UW would almost certainly have to go on a deep run in Chicago to pad its resume for a chance at an at-large bid.

“I like to see them be rewarded because they are doing so many good things, so many things and they’ve given us every single thing they have,” Gard said.” They just continue to battle and have followed our plan really well. It’s obviously not perfect, but no team is. I just like to see them rewarded and get over the hump here.”

UW can finish anywhere from 10th (first-round bye) to 12th in the league’s seeding, depending on what happens with Nebraska’s home game against Iowa, Penn State’s road game at Maryland, and the finishing order above them. Here’s a look at the likely outcomes.

Win vs Minnesota, Nebraska win, Penn State win: UW is 12 seed vs. Ohio State

Win vs Minnesota, Nebraska loss, Penn State win: UW is 11 seed vs. Minnesota

Win vs Minnesota, Nebraska win, Penn State loss: UW is likely 11 seed vs. Minnesota

Win vs Minnesota, Nebraska loss, Penn State loss: UW is 10 seed vs. either Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, or Northwestern.

Loss vs Minnesota: UW is 12 seed vs. Ohio State

9 – Points off turnovers for Purdue in the first half off six Wisconsin miscues. Purdue scored only two points off two miscues in the second half.

1 – Free throws for Wisconsin in the first 59 minutes, 51 seconds.

0 – Offensive rebounds in the first half for Wisconsin

38.2 – Two-point field goal percentage for the Badgers (13-for-34)

6 – The biggest lead for either team (Purdue led 27-21 with 17:17 remaining).

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