EVANSTON, Ill. – Is the University of Wisconsin headed for a third consecutive February swoon?
The mood of seniors Steven Crowl and John Tonje was frustrated, yet upbeat after a 76-68 loss to Maryland Wednesday night. Standing outside the visiting locker room at the Xfinity Center, both players – with 288 combined games of experience – weren’t going to let consecutive road losses cloud over the growth of a roster.
“We can’t jump ship or lose what got us here,” Tonje said. “Staying level-headed and not being too up or down with wins and losses. Keep grinding, keep doing work, and doing what we’ve been doing is the key.”
While the players and coaching staff chalk up the latest loss to the inability to capitalize on open looks, pointing to the fact its defense performed decently in holding Maryland to 40 percent shooting and 1.152 points per possession, Wisconsin’s second loss in eight days has the Badgers (16-5, 6-4 Big Ten) heading into tomorrow afternoon’s road game against Northwestern (12-9, 3-7) alone in sixth place in the league.
It’s the third straight opportunity for UW to pick up a Quad-1 road win and distance itself from the parallels of the two previous seasons; when good starts were wasted during ugly second halves of conference play.
February had usually been a month when Wisconsin started to separate itself. During the Badgers’ two Big Ten regular season titles under Gard, Wisconsin went 12-3 in February. Dating to Gard’s arrival with Bo Ryan in 2001 through 2022, Wisconsin was 108-42 (.720 winning percentage) in February.
The last two years, however, have unfortunately felt like Groundhog Day.
A year ago tomorrow, Wisconsin was ranked sixth in the nation and on its way to improving to 17-4 after building a 19-point lead at Nebraska. The Huskers ended up winning in overtime that night, starting a steady stream of anxiety.
Three days later, UW lost by six at home to No.2 Purdue. Then, it lost consecutive road games to Michigan and Rutgers, teams that finished last in the conference. The team also lost at Iowa and Indiana—teams that finished at .500 in the league—and suffered eight-point losses to No.13 Illinois and again to Purdue.
The Badgers rebounded to make the Big Ten Tournament championship game but losing eight of their last 11 regular-season games cost them a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament and a better matchup than No.12 James Madison, who promptly sent them home.
Last year wasn’t an outlier. The Badgers went 6-11 after January 3, which ruined an 11-2 start and knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament field completely.
Following Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard wasn’t interested in entertaining a question about how to avoid a repeat of last season.
“Play the next game,” he said. “On to the next game. We’ve got to get ready for Northwestern.”
Gard isn’t a fan of comparing seasons because of how dramatically the on-court personnel and the offensive system have changed.
Gard’s decision to alter the offense came after the Badgers repeatedly stalled, averaging 62.7 points, 40.6 percent shooting, and 35.8 percent from three. UW held an opponent to under 70 points 12 times over the final 17 regular-season games but won only five.
UW’s retooling of the offense made them more efficient last season, averaging 71.6 points on 43.7 percent shooting the last 11 games. The issue was shooting 30.1 percent from three and giving up 75 points per game with a high opponent shooting percentage from the floor (47.9 percent) and the perimeter (39.8).
Both seasons dealt with injuries, too. UW was winless in the five games that Tyler Wahl and Max Klesmit missed and struggled last season when reserves John Blackwell and Kamari McGee were sidelined.
Having most of the returning lineup taking leaps forward and upgrading the wing position with Tonje, UW ends January with the ninth most efficient offense in the country (122.8) and averaging 81.8 points per game, the highest mark since 1970-71.
“When you have highly skilled offensive players, it makes offense easier versus if you have too many non-shooters or a non-shooter,” Gard said. “It makes the flow and what you want to accomplish offensively easier … This team is a good example of the start of this new era of year-by-year putting together a team. You got to make sure you have enough of X and not too much of Y.”
UW’s offense will start the month with plenty of opportunities to find a rhythm. The Badgers’ next three opponents rank outside the top 40 in adjusted defensive efficiency, a section of teams they are 13-0 against this season.
“There is no reason to lose confidence,” Tonje said. “We know who we are. We are confident in who we are and how we come together and will bounce back from this. We have a mature team that is willing to learn from each win and loss and we’ll be just fine moving forward.”
_________________________________________________
*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den
*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel
*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)
*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @_Perko_, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_
*Like us on Facebook
