MADISON, Wis. – A minor setback for a major comeback.

That was the tone the University of Wisconsin was trying to strike on Sunday afternoon, a week that began with the Badgers ascending to their highest ranking the Associated Press poll in over three years and ended with two disheartening losses in four days.

The panic button hasn’t been pressed by the Badgers (16-5, 8-3 Big Ten), especially when it is in the middle of a busy stretch of playing five games in 13 days and the problems that have been exposed in an overtime loss at Nebraska and a home loss to No.2 Purdue are things the team has battled with since the opening week.

“I don’t think there’s anything that we have seen transpire the last two games that we haven’t talked about before, and it’s masqueraded by winning,” head coach Greg Gard said. “If you want to be at the highest level, if you want to play championship basketball, you have to be on point.”

Dropping five spots to No.11 in this week’s Associated Press poll, Wisconsin will play the rest of the month against the bottom half of the Big Ten. UW’s next six games, starting with Wednesday’s game at last-place Michigan (7-15, 2-9) in Ann Arbor, are against teams that are receiving no votes in the AP poll, not in any NCAA Tournament projections, and all with NET rankings at 60 or worse.

It's an important stretch for the Badgers to refine things before the postseason but a segment of games that UW will have to ace if it wants to remain in the race for a Big Ten title and a high seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament.

“We knock out one, two, three of (our mistakes), and I see no reason why we can’t be one of the best teams in the country,” forward Tyler Wahl said. “We got a few things that we got to work on (and) tighten up.”

Shot selection is discussed before games, after games, and especially during games, according to Gard. College basketball teams can now even turn on the tape in the locker room to review film and impact teaching points.

Gard gets updated stats and shot charts during most media timeouts and those back up what he’s seen with his eyes: Wisconsin is settling more often than attacking the rim.

There’s no question that Wisconsin’s offense was frustrated by Nebraska and Purdue … at times. After scoring a season-low 18 points in the paint in 45 minutes at Nebraska, Wisconsin finished with 44 against Purdue. Wahl frustrated reigning national player of the year Zach Edey with his quickness and low-post moves and UW went 20-for-29 on shots at the rim.

The problem was UW wasn’t consistent with its offensive game plan to attack. The Badgers would go stretches of playing in the paint and getting to the foul line, and then possessions where UW would settle for mid-range jump shots early in the shot clock.

Wisconsin’s first possession of the second half ended with A.J. Storr missing a three-pointer, but the Badgers saw Wahl and Crowl convert around the rim or in the lane in the next three possessions to cut Purdue’s lead to 39-36.

Six of Wisconsin’s next seven shots were away from the rim, and all were missed, allowing Purdue to open its largest lead at 10. The only basket on that stretch came when guard Chucky Hepburn executed a bounce pass to a cutting John Blackwell in the lane, generating an uncontested layup at the rim.

Two of those misses in that stretch were from Storr, who was 4-for-15 against Purdue after going 11-for-22 against Nebraska. Of his 37 shots, Storr has attempted just nine shots classified as layups (6-for-9). He’s attempted 15 threes (five makes) and 13 jumpers (4-for-13).

“The growth that we got to continue to help guys take is the understanding of how we continue to trend toward and grow towards winning basketball,” Gard said. “There’s a difference between playing basketball and playing winning basketball … There’s a time and a place (for jump shots) but against the best of the best, you got to be disciplined in those areas.”

Wisconsin finished last season 140th nationally in KenPom’s offensive efficiency rankings, the lowest since at least 2002, when the site started tracking data. Part of the reason for that ranking stemmed from Wisconsin finishing the season with 14.3 free throws attempted per game, its lowest per-game average since at least 1968. Worst yet, the Badgers only made 69.1 percent of their foul attempts, putting them 11th in the conference and 273rd nationally.

With Gard setting a goal of at least 25 attempts per game, Wisconsin sat at 20.5 attempts entering the Nebraska game but has attempted 26 total free throws in the last two games.

UW has only had four two-game stretches of shooting that few attempts (21 at the Ft. Myers Tip-Off, 22 from Dec.2-5 at Michigan State and at Arizona, and 24 Jan.6-10 vs. Nebraska and at Ohio State). UW leads the Big Ten in free throw shooting in league games (77.5 percent) and all games (80.1) but has been passing up free throws for jump shots.

“Why we’re not shooting enough free throws is because when you’re taking jump shots, you’re not going to get fouled,” Gard said, “and you’re not going to make a high enough percentage of them to make it worth it.”

A real problem will be if Wisconsin can’t score on Michigan’s defense. The Wolverines rank 186th in adjusted defensive efficiency, 287th nationally in field goal defense (46.6), and 326th in points allowed (78.8 ppg).

It’s the first in a stretch of games that could help fine-tune UW’s run in March or derail a season that still has promise.

“The challenge (with) this group is we know what we need to get better at,” Gard said. “We’ve taken a lot of steps and we’ve gotten better. I want this thing to push farther, push it more. That’s on all of us to get these guys out of their comfort zone. The way to get out of your comfort zone is to be held accountable. If you want to do the things we want to do here, it has to be.

“Winning at a high level is really hard, but the pain of regret is hard, too.”

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