LOS ANGELES – The University of Wisconsin is on the cusp of being a great team.

With an efficient offense not reliant on any one player, and averaging the most points they have since the early 1970s, the Badgers have strung together two winning streaks of at least seven games. But they are flawed, as most teams are, and Tuesday showed how good teams can exploit those weaknesses.

After utilizing mostly sound fundamentals over its five consecutive Big Ten wins, No.18 Wisconsin saw UCLA coach Mick Cronin use two reserves – a speedy guard and a 7-3 center – to pick its defense apart in an 85-83 defeat Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.

Wisconsin (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) rarely shoots 51.0 percent from the field and averages 1.277 and loses, but the Badgers have been susceptible to defensive breakdowns throughout the season.

Three days after head coach Greg Gard complimented his team’s defensive performances, Wisconsin got spread out from chasing ball screens and got stuck fighting through screens, resulting in open driving lanes and open perimeter looks.

“You could almost get complacent and get away from the little things that were making you good early in the win streak,” senior forward Steven Crowl said. “I think we lost that.”

When Wisconsin focused on shoring up its ball-screen defense, the Badgers were bludgeoned by reserve center Aday Mara’s ability to score at the rim and UCLA registered 10 offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive.

Both of those issues caused Wisconsin to lose discipline and foul while guard, resulting in 23 fouls and UCLA making three more free throws on seven more attempts.

“We lost the free-throw battle,” senior John Tonje said. “Really just guarding the ball and getting that five-man out of the paint. They got too many offensive rebounds and got downhill. We just fouled too much, being put at a disadvantage.”

Struggling with an opponent’s athleticism, size, or both isn’t a new problem this season.

Mara didn’t have to work overly hard to get position in the low block and either finish at the rim or draw fouls. The sophomore had rarely logged sustained minutes for Cronin (3.8 ppg in 9.4 mpg) and didn’t appear in Friday’s win over Iowa. However, Cronin liked the matchup against UW’s traditional frontcourt and the sophomore made him look like a genius.

Not only did Mara finish with a career-high 22 points, becoming the first Bruin to score 20+ points with a perfect field goal percentage since Jrue Holiday did it in 2008, Mara drew six fouls, went 8-for-11 from the line, and had four of UCLA’s offensive rebounds.

The backbreaker was when Mara grabbed two on one possession before drawing a foul after UW had cut a nine-point deficit to five with 6:05 remaining.

It drew flashbacks to Wisconsin’s 67-64 loss to Michigan, allowing 7-footer Vlad Goldin to have a career-high 24 points, including the final six points of the game over the last 2:23. Goldin went 7-for-9, mostly on dunks at the rim.

UW’s problems with Mack are more recent and bleed into the trend of the Badgers’ becoming slow second-half starters. UCLA’s reserve guard scored four points on five shots in 14 first-half minutes. He found his confidence with 15 points on seven shots in 10 second-half minutes.

Mack drew seven fouls without committing one, drawing contact on drives to the rim, and went 7-for-8 from the line.

Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton (19 points) and USC’s Desmond Claude (nine) had similar success in attacking the rim post halftime, allowing both teams to turn double-digit deficits into one-possession games.

“Just being hungry out of the locker room,” Crowl said when asked about UW's slow second-half starts in three straight games. “Almost getting complacent a little bit. I think we got to put our foot on the gas in those situations and get a little bit better there.”

Splitting its two games on its first Big Ten West Coast trip, the Badgers drew rave reviews from both USC’s Eric Musselman and Cronin with the depth and complexity of UW’s offense. Cronin praised John Blackwell’s ability to get to the foul line and Tonje’s ability to hit threes after limiting his production from the foul line. Musselman said it was impossible to take everything away from the UW offense because of the balance.

Possessing size, talent in the frontcourt and backcourt, and a deep roster of veterans in the starting lineup and off the bench, Cronin said the Badgers could be the best team UCLA has played this season, which includes Arizona, Gonzaga, Michigan, North Carolina, and Oregon.

Wisconsin’s task now is fixing its exposed problems before they creep up again.

“I always try to keep an optimistic view,” Tonje said. “There is no moral victories. Obviously, we lost but I feel like we’re right there. We’re going to keep learning. We’re glad to get exposed early right now, so just keep learning and getting better.”

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