Wisconsin Hoops Has Thrived In Past Marches. Will the Magic Happen Again?
MADISON, Wis. – As the head-scratching offensive woes become commonplace, University of Wisconsin seniors continued to preach patience. Even with the losses piling up in the program’s first losing February in four years, players point to the fact that enough encouraging things are happening to give them a chance with the postseason on the horizon.
Well, the calendar has finally turned to March, which might be exactly what the Badgers need to right what looks to be a sinking ship.
Dropping two spots to No.25 in Monday’s Associated Press poll, Wisconsin (16-9, 10-8 Big Ten) faces two tough road environments in the final week of the regular season. After facing No.23 Purdue (16-8, 11-6) Tuesday night in a building where the Badgers have lost four straight and are 4-41 all-time, UW closes the regular season at No.5 Iowa (18-7, 12-6).
It will mark the 10th and 11th regular-season games against the AP Top 25 this season, a program-record, but the Badgers have lost six of nine that includes five to ranked teams.
The Hawkeyes just delivered a 73-57 blowout of No.4 Ohio State in Columbus for their fifth win in their last six games. One of those victories was a 77-62 win over Wisconsin on February 18. The Badgers shot a season-worst 30 percent that night and are on a string of having shot below 40 percent in six straight games.
The bad news for Wisconsin is that they are 0-6 against teams currently above them in the conference standings. Those losses came an average of 13.0 points per game and four came at the Kohl Center.
However, good things have happened in March lately for the Badgers. Wisconsin has won seven straight regular season games in the month, including three last year that helped them clinch a share of the Big Ten regular season championship.
“This group has been extremely resilient,” head coach Greg Gard said. “They were resilient last year, and they continue to be resilient this year ... That gives us something to hold onto. That’s a huge positive, because that’s the one thing you want to make sure you always have.”
If one coach can relate to what Gard and Wisconsin are going through, it would be Purdue’s Matt Painter. After finishing third in the league in scoring in 2018-19, the Boilermakers dropped to 12th last season in points and field goal percentage. Finishing 16-15 overall and 9-11 in the Big Ten last season, Painter saw two key contributors transfer in swingman Nojel Eastern (Howard) and center Matt Haarms (BYU).
The Boilers’ roster includes seven freshmen, three sophomores and no seniors, but Purdue is No.21 in the NCAA NET rankings, is the only team to sweep Ohio State this season, has the second-best home record in the conference and is led by talented junior forward Trevion Williams’ 15.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Talented low-post players have been kryptonite for Wisconsin’s defense, as Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn showed with a team-high 19 points (7-for-13) in the Illini’s 74-69 victory Saturday.
“He just kept progressing,” Painter said of Williams. “He’s in better shape this year. His knowledge about what’s going on. He can pass the ball, he can score with his back to the basket, he’s a very instinctual rebounder. He’s had all those qualities before … We rely a lot on him. We use him more than anybody in the country. We’re on him a lot because there’s a lot of responsibility when you play through somebody like we do with him.”
Saturday’s loss guarantees Wisconsin will miss on the coveted double bye in next week’s conference tournament, as the Badgers can finish anywhere from fifth to eighth in the league. UW showed it has the moxie to make a run, evident by the Badgers cutting a 14-point deficit down to one in a two-minute stretch Saturday.
If they can somehow figure out a way to do that for 40 minutes, Wisconsin could be dangerous this month. The key words in that last sentence – can and could – have been something the players have been using to try to stay upbeat during an understandably frustrating stretch.
“That effort at the end – guys diving on the floor, causing turnovers, different things like that, that’s the kind of effort we need to have from the jump,” senior forward Micah Potter said. “We’ve seen it, we’ve experienced it and we’ve got to continue with that going forward from the jump ball … That effort at the end I was proud of and I’m happy about.”