MADISON, Wis. – Twenty-six games into a college basketball season should define what a team is or isn’t.
That line of reasoning would suggest the University of Wisconsin on most nights is an efficient offensive team that can score with the best teams in the country but is a group that is consistently disappointed by a defense that fails to show up consistently.
Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard believes that his team can still be the dynamic defensive team he has wanted them to be since early fall, even though time is running out.
“There’ve been signs that we’ve done it well,” Gard said, “and consistency is always a thing we’re trying to achieve.”
Last week’s two games were a prime example of the good and the bad.
In UW’s home victory over Ohio State, the Badgers held the Buckeyes to 41.1 percent shooting, made life challenging on their two leading scorers, and shut them down with transition, three combined things that resulted in a conference-low 58 points scored against for UW.
Four days later, against a more explosive Iowa offense, the Hawkeyes shot 52.6 percent, had four players score at least 17 points, and were able to push the tempo, leading to eight fast-break points and many more opportunities against a frazzled defense. The result was 88 points for Iowa, the conference worst against UW.
Wisconsin (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) currently ranks 39th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency at Kenpom (98.6). It would be the lowest for the Badgers since finishing 66th during their 15-18 season.
“As a leader of the team, it’s going to be my job to get back to what we were doing defensively,” guard Chucky Hepburn said. “Making sure all guys are locked in. We’re going to get back to that.”
Reviewing the film and the defensive breakdowns from the weekend, Gard points to part of the problem being lineup-based. The Badgers starters played 18 minutes together against the Hawkeyes, averaging 1.42 points per possession and holding Iowa under one point per possession.
But foul trouble, particularly by graduate forward Tyler Wahl that limited him to 22 of the 45 minutes, and fouling jump shooters made for short-lived successes.
“There are going to be fouls, and that’s part of the game, but we reach,” Gard said. “We fouled three times 90 feet from our basket trying to chase a missed shot … Eleven points by fouling jump shooters, and ‘and-one’ here and there, following a three-point shooter, six free throws off offensive rebounds. Those things from the outside maybe don’t look big. When you start adding them all up ... some of its technique (and) some of its discipline.”
“We can’t put a team at the line 30 times. We gift-wrapped some possessions for them.”
No longer a team that can afford to outscore its mistakes, Wisconsin (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) prepares for a different task in the defense of Maryland (14-12, 6-9) and fifth-year guard Jahmir Young tonight at the Kohl Center (8 p.m./Peacock).
Ranked sixth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency (93.0), Maryland’s 64.6 points allowed per game is tops in the conference and 22nd nationally. It’s a defense that should make them a Big Ten title contender, but the Terps have been betrayed by their offense.
Maryland ranks 13th in the conference in scoring (69.8 points per game) and field-goal shooting (41.1 percent) and is 1-6 in its conference-leading seven one-possession games.
The third-leading scorer in the Big Ten at 21.2 points per game, Young is the type of guard who has given Wisconsin fits most of the season. Possessing the ability to bully his way into the paint, Young is shooting 43.8 percent from two-point range, 35.3 percent from the perimeter, and 91.9 percent from the line.
Young finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, and six assists against Illinois, only the second Maryland player to reach those numbers in the last 17 seasons and one of only two Division-1 players to match those stats against a ranked team this year.
In the only matchup last season, Young scored a game-high 22 points as Maryland shot 56.0 percent, and was 13-for-18 on layups and 3-for-3 on dunks in a 73-55 victory in College Park.
“We’ve talked about Chucky changing his body for the better; you see the same thing with Jahmir,” said Gard, adding Young’s two-man game with center Julian Reese (13.6 pts, 10.1 rbds) makes Maryland a tough cover. “He’s built like a running back and he’s from A to B as explosive and as fast and as powerful as any guard in our league for sure. He puts a lot of pressure on you in that way.”
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