WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Wisconsin walked away from Sunday’s regular-season final feeling they put forth a better effort against the outright Big Ten champions than they did five weeks previously in Madison.

They were mostly right but to beat the country’s most efficient offense, teams must make shots to pressure Purdue’s defense and get them to unclog the lane.

Wisconsin didn’t do that at the Kohl Center, and they didn’t do it in the return match in central Indiana, a reason why the Badgers aren’t hoisting any hardware in the regular season and are beginning their postseason on Thursday instead of Friday.

“I feel like we were right there the entire game,” senior forward Tyler Wahl said following Wisconsin’s 78-70 defeat to No.3 Purdue. “We make a couple threes (or) make a couple bunnies and we probably have the lead going into that last media timeout. I felt like we played well. The toughness was there. The fight was there. We were getting on the ground for loose balls. I thought defensively we were doing a pretty good job. They hit their shots tonight, and we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”

An inspired effort doesn’t translate to a win, not when it goes 5-for-24 from three-point range, meaning Wisconsin will finish in fifth place in the Big Ten (exactly where they were predicted in the preseason) and be seeded fifth for this week’s Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis.

Here are my takeaways from Mackey Arena.

Wisconsin started the game 2-for-11 from the floor, a stretch that included seven straight misses of five three-pointers, a jumper, and a layup.

Center Zach Edey’s presence made going inside the rim a chore for Wisconsin, but the Badgers got a break when the Purdue center was called for an illegal screen and a low-post foul on Wahl. In a four-possession stretch lasting less than a minute, Edey went from controlling the game with 11 points and eight rebounds to the bench with 4:36 remaining.

UW had a chance to cut the nine-point lead down significantly before halftime but imploded almost immediately.

Wahl missed one of two free throws and threw a pass away on the next possession, leading to a fast break that ended with Kamari McGee fouling Fletcher Loyer on a three-point make. The four-point play put Purdue up, 38-26, with 3:59 left in the first half.

Chucky Hepburn missed a three-pointer and dribbled out bounds on the next two possessions, part of a tough day for him where he went 1-for-7 from the floor and scored two points in 35 minutes. The deficit grew to 14 before UW made three baskets to inch closer, but UW’s last possession ended how the run started with a Wahl turnover.

“When we get him on the bench with an injury or foul trouble, we got to take advantage,” Wahl said. “We were getting good shots for the most part in the first half. We just couldn’t find the bottom of the bucket.”

Purdue loaded up on A.J. Storr when the sophomore was at the top of the key or on the wing for the second straight game, making him work for his 17 points on 15 shots (he had 14 points on 15 shots in Madison), but the main culprit was the inability to hit open, makeable perimeter shots.

Head coach Greg Gard recalled only forced two perimeter shots while Markus Ilver, Nolan Winter, and Max Klesmit all had good looks early. Listed as questionable leading into the game, Klesmit had seven points (1-for-4 3FG) and three steals in 17 minutes and was missing the usual lift with his shot.

“You can tell that he didn’t move quite like he has,” Gard said of Klesmit. “Hopefully with a few days to get him healthy, that will get him back to where he needs to be.”

While Wisconsin outscored Purdue in the paint (34-30), the Badgers acknowledged that it’s hard to constantly score in the paint against Purdue because of their size and athleticism. Having Klesmit and Hepburn go 4-for-15 from the field and 1-for-8 from three didn’t help.

Wisconsin has become accustomed to playing extended first-half minutes without a key starter, but the Badgers took that to the extreme against Purdue. The Badgers’ starting five only played the first 2:36 together of the first half and the first 4:13 of the second half, largely due to fouls created by guarding Edey.

Klesmit sat the final 13:49 with two fouls. Steven Crowl picked up his second foul with 10:28 remaining but had to rotate in and out of the lineup because Winter also picked up two fouls – and a flagrant 1 - guarding Edey.

The game mimicked UW’s last trip to Mackey Arena when Crowl, Winter, and reserve center Chris Vogt fouled out trying to guard Edey, but the Badgers won because of Johnny Davis’ 37 points.

Wahl avoided major foul trouble in the present but still was whistled against Edey. Gard dispatched Ilver for extended minutes in the first half and even used seldom-used reserve Chris Hodges, whose 2:36 on the court was the most meaningful minutes he’s seen this season.

Ilver finished with five points, two steals, and a rebound in just under 10 minutes, while Hodges didn’t record any stats.

“They’re getting a lot of minutes, and they did a great job for the most part,” Wahl said. “Markus ends up with a couple steals, a couple loose balls, and Hodges did a good job of doing the thing you got to do with Zach Edey in keeping him out of the paint and make him frustrated.”

Wisconsin didn’t allow Edey to get many easy looks at the rim but at times were too spread out and made it easy for him to get the ball in the low post, leading to him drawing 11 fouls. Edey went 11-for-14 from the line, the exact total that UW had as a team.

“We had a game plan, but we can’t have three guys sitting on the bench with foul trouble,” Wahl said. “You got to be physical but smart. We can’t leave those guys on an island. As team defense, we got to do a better job digging the ball out when he puts it on the ground and then make it harder for him to get in there.”

Although Wisconsin outscored Purdue, 34-30, in the paint, and matched them with 10 offensive rebounds, Crowl’s absence was crucial. He never played more than 4:30 minutes straight and was held scoreless on two shots when he fouled out with 1:55 remaining.

“The foul trouble puts him in a position where he’s not as aggressive and gets him out of a routine and a rhythm of a game,” Gard said. “It’s hard when you have to come over and sit for an extended period of time. He’s got to do a better job of not picking up the ticky-tack fouls.”

The Badgers have dropped two of the last three, eight of 11, and six consecutive road games heading into the postseason, but the player's mood was that they are taking steps back in the right direction since the calendar turned to March.

It shouldn’t be a coincidence that the mindset has changed with the return of McGee and John Blackwell being back to 100 percent following his hip injury suffered five weeks ago against the Boilermakers.

Blackwell was one of the few Badgers who attacked Edey and the paint consistently. Choosing to fight aggression with aggression, Blackwell was an efficient 7-for-10 from the floor in scoring his team-high 18 points and drawing a team-best five fouls.

He scored five of the team’s 15 second-chance points, connected on layups on consecutive possessions to bring the Badgers within five with 7:10 remaining, and opened offensive opportunities by attacking.

“We definitely got our swag back, our toughness back,” Blackwell said. “Even though we haven’t gotten the results, I definitely feel confident in our team.”

Gard complimented Blackwell’s feel for the game with the way the freshman understands shot selection, back-cutting, and defensive intensity.

“For a freshman, his IQ on the court is really, really good and he makes us better when he’s out there,” Gard said. “He does a tremendous amount of good things. For a freshman, he’s trending in an incredibly good direction. He’s a battler. More than anything. His knowledge and understanding of the game is pretty obvious.”

While the Badgers still were victimized by allowing open straight-line drives by Purdue’s guard and fell subject to perimeter buckets from post kickouts, the Badgers held the country’s most efficient offense to under 1.1 points per possession in the second half and under their season-scoring average.

“We look a lot like ourselves again, that team that was winning games, scoring the ball, getting stops, getting steals,” Wahl said. “We’re starting to get that mojo. If anything, it’s a step in the right direction, not the wrong.”

+9 – After finishing +13 in rebounds (42-29) and turning 14 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points in Madison, Purdue was more limited with only a 37-28 edge and only 10 second-chance points. UW scored 15 points off offensive rebounds.

26 – Field goals made by Purdue (17 twos, 9 threes)

27- Field goals made by Wisconsin (22 twos, 5 threes)

3-11 – Three-point shooting from Wisconsin’s reserves (Blackwell was 2-for-3)

2-13 – Three-point shooting from Wisconsin’s five starters

8-0 – Wisconsin’s scoring run over the final 1:02

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